data

Clean Data, Clear Decisions: How to Optimize Data Quality

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Clean Data

Last week, I sat down with one of our data experts, Olena Shevchenko, to get her thoughts on clean data and why it’s important. As someone with a non-technical background, I wanted to understand the steps you can take to ensure you are working with clean data.   Clean Data: Step 1  Olena explained the first step she would take is exploring. She gave the example of having a very wide data table, where you may or may not know the source of the data. You want to explore what kind of naming standards there are for the columns and understand what the underlying data behind it is. You also want … Read more

Why Power Pages Are Better than Squarespace, Wix, and DIY for Businesses 

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In today’s digital era, choosing the right platform to build your business website is a critical decision. There are many options, ranging from do-it-yourself platforms like Squarespace and Wix, to bespoke builds crafted from the ground up. However, Power Pages have emerged as a compelling alternative that outshines these options, particularly when examining costs, security, and overall platform efficiency.  This blog will discuss the costs (both realized and hidden) and security concerns involved when building a DIY/custom website vs. when building with Power Pages.   Cost to Build from Scratch  Building a website from scratch can seem appealing for the tailored customization it offers. However, the costs associated with this approach … Read more

Internal Oversharing Concerns? Microsoft Has a Solution

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Internal Oversharing

Microsoft Copilot is still relatively new technology. Therefore, users are likely experiencing some uncertainty in using or adopting it. With this uncertainty comes the risk of oversharing – the unintentional or inappropriate sharing of sensitive or confidential information within an organization. Internal oversharing concerns are normal, and Microsoft has a deployment blueprint to address these concerns.   When Does Internal Oversharing Happen?  Oversharing happens when users share documents, emails, or other data with individuals who should not have access to it, either within or outside the organization.  This can lead to various risks, like data breaches, loss of intellectual property, and compliance issues. The Microsoft Copilot blueprint provides strategies and tools … Read more

AI’s Secret Weapon: The Importance of Quality Data for AI Insights 

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Quality Data

There are many conversations surrounding the benefits of AI. Two of the benefits often discussed are the amount of time AI can save you and its ability to provide key organizational insights. Unfortunately, many people fail to realize that just because AI simplifies many aspects of a job, doesn’t mean building it requires a simple approach. Using quality data for AI insights is key to ensuring you are getting the most out of AI technology.   Why Quality Data for AI Insights Matters  High-quality data ensures AI models can detect patterns accurately and then uses those patterns to make correct predictions to provide actionable organizational insights. With poor-quality data, you run … Read more

Microsoft Secure Score Shows Effectiveness of Data Security

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Microsoft Secure Score

Microsoft Secure Score Shows Effectiveness of Data Security   A current hot topic of conversation in the technology world is safety and security – and for good reason. It often feels as though we are constantly being warned of new scams or online threats. Remaining diligent is essential, especially when it comes to your organization’s data. The Microsoft Secure Score is an effective way to measure the quality of your organization’s protection policies.  What is the Microsoft Secure Score? The Microsoft Secure Score is a tool available in the M365 security portal that helps you measure and improve your organization’s security tactics in Microsoft 365.   It gives you a numerical summary … Read more

Secret Manager to Protect Sensitive Data in App Development

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Secret Manager

Secret Manager to Protect Sensitive Data in App Development   How you deal with sensitive data is critical to your organization’s success. If you are not careful with sensitive company or client data, you risk losing trust between you and your employees or customer base. But how do you protect sensitive data when developing a new application where you may need access to said data? Secret Manager provides a solution for protecting sensitive data during application development.  What is Secret Manager?  Secret Manager is used to store sensitive data during the development of an ASP.NET Core application development project. It keeps the “secrets” out of the source code and stores them … Read more

Modern DevOps Practices Lead to Better App Functionality 

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A leading Canadian retail logistics provider contacted Imaginet for a variety of application support. Broadly speaking, they needed assistance in managing several applications that had been written in the old .Net framework. These applications were poorly documented and lacked standardized build processes. Modernizing the applications was necessary as was breaking the larger applications down into smaller ones. This would make them more testable and would allow the client the track any in-application issues. In short, our client needed to adopt modern DevOps practices.    What We Did   The client had one massive application that, among other functions, primarily managed the inventory orders coming out and shipments to customers. There were roughly … Read more

Custom Application Streamlines Production and Reduces Costs

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A well-known consumer packaged goods (CPG) company specializing in pet food contacted Imaginet to complete and polish a custom application started by a few interns. The application was not as far along as they initially thought, and they needed support.   The App:  In summer 2023, the interns visited all the facilities to understand how they handle the production of their “meat mix” pet food. The facilities where the product is made are separate from the supplier locations. At this time, they were tracking products via a spreadsheet – a method prone to error. Per year, 10,000 tankers haul the meat mix product to and from the supplier locations, and this … Read more

Inventory Reporting Tool Optimizes Inventory and Delivery with Data Integration

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A provider of bedding plants for vegetable and herb gardens contacted Imaginet because they were starting to use Go Spot Check and wanted to bring its data into their data warehouse. Go Spot Check is a third-party cloud application that, like many supplementary tools, offers reporting in-app but doesn’t have a reliable or repeatable export method for the raw data. These types of tools can be very useful to organizations but can cause challenges when attempting to retrieve and integrate the data they collect. In this case, our client was in need of an inventory reporting tool. They specifically mentioned their desire to use the Go Spot Check data in collaboration … Read more

Power BI Reports & DevOps Component Improves Data Quality

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A major Canadian University had been experiencing issues with discrepancies in their data reports. They had an existing data warehouse across the entire organization, but the data quality was poor and inaccurate. Therefore, they were in need of a solution that could provide overall improved data quality. The client had expressed their desire to keep the data warehouse currently in place. We determined that data collected and presented in Power BI reports would satisfy the client’s data needs.   What We Did: Power BI  We started by doing work in Power BI that allowed the reports to match up with their evaluation criteria, which involved working heavily in SQL. We then … Read more