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Today’s ACE spotlight is @Hub119! Keep reading to learn more about Cory and what makes him a unique Alteryx super user.
Tell us a bit about your professional background.
I studied to become a biomedical engineer but then shifted to working in an oral microbiology research lab at the same university (University of Rochester) after graduation. The plan at first was to work there while getting at least a Master’s degree in one of those two fields paid for (one of the perks of working for a university). However, I quickly decided to instead apply that same idea to pursuing an MBA at U of R’s business school while working in the lab (conducting research projects and publishing papers) during the day with the thought that Business school was the way to go if, eventually, I would want to go into business for myself. Fast forward a few years, and I finished my MBA with marketing, brand management, e-commerce strategy, and computer information systems concentrations. At this point, I decided to leave Rochester and take my talents south (not to South Beach like LeBron… just a couple hours south to central PA) to work at my friend’s family enterprise, mainly focused on the advertising agency (Gregory Welteroth Advertising).
GWA specializes in buying and placing every type of media under the sun from thousands of different providers on an annual basis in order to service its clients, many of whom operate via networks of several thousand independent retailers across the country. Early into my tenure at GWA, a brilliant colleague and I were tasked with scaling the company by building out a data and technology practice. We focused on tangible ways to modernize our utilization of data, streamline and automate processes, measure campaigns, and report back to thousands of independent businesses.
When a new large client engagement landed at our doorstep, we quickly realized we needed more horsepower for things like spatial analysis and data science modeling. We sat through hundreds of demos, but in 2016, we found a little company called Alteryx. I still remember what my colleague said during the call after watching the sales engineer demo the modeling capabilities in front of us, “this is the sexiest tool I have ever seen.” We saw the project we had spent the last two weeks building in R get completed from scratch in under 5 minutes right in front of our eyes and saw what we could do with a tool like Alteryx. Instantly we were sold.
We onboarded our first Designer license and what are now called the Location & Business Insights datasets the first week of January 2017, quickly scheduled and had an onboarding call with an Alteryx Solutions Engineer to build out our first use case, and we were off to the races. A couple of months later, the two of us went to Inspire to get some hands-on training and check out this thing called “Server” to see how it could help give access to data automation and insights to the rest of the company who may have lacked the proper skillsets (and certainly at least the licensing) to do these things for themselves. Needless to say, we bought our Server license as well as more Designer licenses within a couple of weeks of getting back to the office.
Over the next several years, we onboarded and upskilled Alteryx users across the organization, building and refining countless analytics solutions and stewarding new capabilities and opportunities for the company along the way. Now, as Vice President of Strategic Analytics, I oversee a team of analysts who design, develop, implement, and maintain a wide variety of analytics process automation solutions across the organization that are specific to any and all client and corporate needs. I am 8 years into my Alteryx journey, and I truly believe I haven’t even scratched the surface of what is possible.
During these past 8 years using Alteryx, I had the privilege of serving on the inaugural Customer Advisory Board prior to COVID. I’ve been an Alteryx Innovator since essentially the onset of that particular advocacy program. I have made the trip to Inspire every year since my first one back in 2017 (other than the year it was canceled altogether due to the pandemic… but I did manage to win a Customer Excellence Award that year!) and was a breakout session speaker this past year. I became Designer Expert Certified. I’ve been featured in a Customer Success story and recently was on an Alteryx webinar to discuss how the toolset can be leveraged in marketing. A couple of my team members and I even got to be guests on the Alter Everything podcast a short while ago to talk about upskilling and certifications and somehow ended up as everyone’s “Welcome to Alteryx Designer” on the Start Here window:
But, most of all, I am beyond excited to see where this trip takes me next as both a SparkED Mentor and as an Alteryx ACE. I have met countless awesome people (who just happen to be Alteryx users) along the way, and I hope to spread my Alteryx experience and excitement with as many other users as possible!
What is your favorite Alteryx tool, and why?
This is a tough one… I feel like I should pick something in the Spatial pallet based on my whole reason for trying Alteryx. Or maybe the Allocate or Calgary tools due to the wealth of information made available to me at my fingertips? Perhaps one of the Reporting tools because of the thousands of reports we’ve automated over the years? On that note, what about the Interface or Developer tools for the ease with which we have been able to transform our workflows into simple-to-use analytic apps for end users? Heck, why not the Formula tool? I mean, that can do just about anything, right? Speaking of doing just about anything, that brings up Run Command, the Python tool, and all the R tools… and I haven’t even touched on any of the Intelligence Suite tools yet. There may just be too many to choose from.
Okay, I guess if I can only choose one, then I have to go with where it all starts: the Input Data tool. That fact that Alteryx can so easily connect to so many different file types and data sources (and this list seems to constantly be expanding) means the opportunities are truly endless for where and how we can pipe in data to start leveraging analytics and process automation to drive more value… even if I still feel like I’m just constantly connecting to an endless string of Excel files most of the time… Excel is NOT a database people!
What has been your favorite Alteryx project? Can you tell us about the business problem you solved?
There are several automated workflows and analytic applications that went into making this project a reality, but in short, I was able to build out and introduce a complete iterative data-driven approach to marketing to the company and our clients using Alteryx from end to end.
Ultimately, even just a small portion of this process was able to vastly improve upon the company’s market insights capabilities through data enrichment, spatial analytics, and report automation, allowing what would have once been decades worth of labor and manual reporting (meaning it just wouldn’t have even been done period at an individual dealer level due to time constraints) for thousands of unique local retailers to be reduced to mere weeks in aggregate. Seriously, transforming a process that takes a few days into one that takes mere minutes of computing time really adds up when you are working with networks of several thousand retail locations that all need individualized reporting.
Not only did this vastly improve the company’s capabilities, save immensely on resources, and provide millions in new and sustained revenue opportunities, but I’m proud to say this is what won the Customer Excellence Award I mentioned previously.
However, my favorite part of this whole project is really where it has all gone since. This is and always has been an iterative process, and we are constantly improving upon and expanding it. The best part is that now it’s the Analytics Department, along with people spread throughout different parts of the organization as a whole, working on this project. Some of them are Designer users themselves, but most leverage analytic apps deployed to our Gallery, increasing efficiencies and capabilities at the same time. Better yet, the more people are exposed to these tools and data-driven processes, the better they are at asking new, better questions that only lead to even further expansion of solution deployments and capabilities in the future.
What advice do you have for new community members?
Don't be afraid to ask questions, both on the Community and internally with business stakeholders where you work or are trying to get hired to work. Even when I am devoting time to answering questions on the Community and posting a response within minutes of the ask, someone else has often beat me to the punch. It always surprises me how active this Community is and how fast users respond. And in your day-to-day work environment, remember, no matter how seasoned a process flow or higher up is, question everything! One of two things should hopefully happen: you either learn from them and understand the nuanced reasoning behind something taking place that you don't immediately understand or if they can't properly give you such an explanation (my favorite: "it's just always been done that way!") then it provides you a fantastic opportunity to hone your skills on process improvement.
The other thing I would say is to get to an Inspire event in person as soon as you are able. There is no better place to learn the ins and outs of the entire Alteryx platform or get to know and network with your fellow members of the Maveryx Community. The wealth of amazing ideas and solutions that others have already implemented that you could leverage in your own business and career are countless and priceless.
What is your favorite way to engage as an ACE? Also, what area of the online community do you spend the most time in?
While I have yet to do this formally as an ACE, my favorite way to engage with other Alteryx users will always be in person, especially at Inspire! Whether as a speaker in a breakout session or discussing someone’s unique use cases over a beer, I always enjoy interacting with fellow Maveryx and promoting all the fantastic things that can be done with Alteryx to prospective users.
On the Community, I like to keep my skills sharp with weekly challenges to work on Alteryx tasks outside what I would normally do on a daily basis… although I will say I have been slacking lately in catching up on old challenges (one of the analysts on my team lapped me some time ago and has done them all). Meanwhile, I like to keep a tab open on my browser to the Community homepage to see if there is anything I can jump in and help with between my regular day-to-day work items.
What discussion topic(s) could Community members tag you in for help?
While I am certainly willing to chime in and help in almost any area, spatial analytics, reporting capabilities (both inside Designer and prepping data to send out to various interactive visualization tools like Tableau), and process automation (i.e. macros and analytic apps) are definitely my bread and butter. And for any users out there that license the US Business Insights data, I am in the Allocate and Calgary tools on a daily basis. Finally, anything related to marketing or customer insight I would love to discuss!
What is one fun thing about you that community members might not know?
I grew up in Vermont (fun fact: my grandparent’s dairy farm was one of the first contributors of milk to Ben & Jerry’s ice cream when they first started) and I am the odd combination of a diehard Patriots fan (my dog’s name is Brady… named after Tom) and a diehard Yankees fan (still kicking myself for the time I met Jeter when he was still a prospect on tour at a baseball card show and my dad and I decided “nah, we don’t need his autograph, he probably will never make it anyway” 🤦) and will continue to be so even when they suck (rebuild mode for Pats right now, but at least the Yanks are playing well again).
While those are my favorite teams (and sports) to watch, I played lacrosse into college myself and grew up downhill skiing and practicing martial arts (second-degree blackbelt in Taekwondo… my flexibility with the high kicks is definitely not what it once was though 😊). With all that said, I recently went deep sea fishing for the first time and may have found my newest sports-related calling after reeling in this beast on my first outing (must have been attracted to that Maveryx swag I was rocking):
