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Alter.Nation

Community news, customer stories, and more!
MeganDibble
Alteryx Community Team
Alteryx Community Team

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Today’s ACE spotlight is @RolandSchubert! Keep reading to learn more about Roland and what makes him a unique Alteryx super user.

 

Tell us a bit about your professional background.

 

I double graduated in social sciences and economics years ago, majoring in management and operations research, and started my professional career in a retail company. Later on, I switched to business consulting and specialized in the conceptual design of planning, reporting, and analysis solutions. Somehow, over time, I've also learned to implement these solutions and found myself increasingly interested in tools non-technical people like me can use to solve day-to-day business problems. I also focused more and more on topics such as assortment optimization, customer analytics, and people analytics, and that's how I stumbled into Alteryx at some point. I soon realized that by using it, I could solve problems faster and easier. Well, besides that, it's fun. A lot of fun. And of course, I use it quite frequently. Almost every day, actually.

 

Until today, I certainly wouldn't call myself a technical expert, in fact, I have no intention of being one either. Thanks to Alteryx, I don't have to anymore. I am able to work with all the data I need for my projects, and I can show my clients how easy it can be to gain valuable insights.

 

What is one fun thing about you that community members might not know?

 

Besides analytics, I am interested in sports. I am a passionate runner until a few years ago I played handball as a goalkeeper. And you'll often find me watching soccer games of Alemannia Aachen, 4th league in Germany. To be honest, you have to be a real fan to do so. These days you'll often see me walking my daughter's dog.

 

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What is your favorite Alteryx tool, and why?

 

Hard decision. I would choose the Formula tool. Deep in my heart, I am a number cruncher, and with the Formula tool, I can do anything I want with numbers. Okay, let's say almost anything. But there is also the Multi-Row Formula tool. And the Multi-Field Formula tool. And... 

 

What has been your favorite Alteryx project?

 

This is a very special story. Usually, you solve a problem only once, but before using Alteryx, I completed a store and target assortment evaluation analysis using sales data, socio-demographic data, and market research data. Performing these analyses using Excel, SQL, R and other tools was a lot of hard work, took quite a long time, and cost the customer a considerable amount of money.

 

Later, after getting to know Alteryx, it came to my mind to replicate the project with Alteryx only.

 

Of course, this approach was much faster to implement and significantly easier to understand for the business user. In addition, the implementation was much more fun.

 

This project provided a direct comparison of how much more productive I can be. To be honest, I felt a bit guilty because it would have been faster and less expensive for the customer.

 

What is your favorite Alteryx memory?

 

Inspire Europe 2018 in London. I had already attended a lot of user conferences, and I was tired of endless marketing blah blah and boring talks on great new features. So, I had to be really pushed to go to London... and then I felt this incredible energy and genuine enthusiasm in the audience—it was fantastic, very different from any conference I had attended before. That was probably the key experience that also drove my decision to get more engaged in the community.

 

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What advice do you have for new community members?

 

Use the community to learn. If you need help, ask questions, other users will be happy to help you, you will learn so much. Maybe you can already answer questions–you will also learn a lot from other users' questions. It is said that you have not really understood things until you can explain them, so explaining how to solve a problem is a wonderful opportunity!

 

In addition, solve the Weekly Challenges. You'll get to know tools you won't use in your day-to-day business, and they might be useful at some point. When you're done, look at other solutions to learn about different ways of solving problems. And in general, learn from other users and share your own knowledge.

 

What is your favorite way to engage as an ACE? Also, what area of the online community do you spend the most time in?

 

I love to write, so I publish blogs on a regular basis. And I love to talk about Alteryx with other users, so I'm active in the German User Group. I also like to solve problems, so when I have time I am also in the Designer Discussions.

 

Silly question... if you were a kitchen appliance/utensil, what would you be and why?

 

I'm really bad at cooking. Not as you are thinking now, worse. And I don't know much about kitchen utensils. But I think if I were a kitchen appliance, it would be a juicer, squeezing juice out of fruit, just like I squeeze insights out of data in everyday life.

 

Ok, now finally, let’s do a quick “This or That” to get to know your Alteryx preferences!

 

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Tune in next week for another spotlight article!

Megan Dibble
Sr. Content Manager

Hi, I'm Megan! I am a Sr. Content Manager at Alteryx. I work to make sure our blogs and podcast have high quality, helpful, and engaging content. As a data analyst turned writer, I am passionate about making analytics & data science accessible (and fun) for all. If there is content that you think the community is missing, feel free to message me--I would love to hear about it.

Hi, I'm Megan! I am a Sr. Content Manager at Alteryx. I work to make sure our blogs and podcast have high quality, helpful, and engaging content. As a data analyst turned writer, I am passionate about making analytics & data science accessible (and fun) for all. If there is content that you think the community is missing, feel free to message me--I would love to hear about it.

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