Interview with Sheba Prakash

The world of IBM Planning Analytics feels infinite for most of us.  The sheer scale and scope of the technology and what you can achieve with it is difficult to explain to people who haven’t worked intricately with it before.  And so often, we rely on a foot-in-the-door approach to onboard a new user and bring them around to how powerful these solutions can actually be.

However, once someone can get their hands dirty and experience what is on offer, there is then a vast spectrum of different journeys that they can go on as they implement it in their organization.

Recently, we sat down with Sheba Prakash, a Power User from RACV, and she talked through some of her experiences with Cubewise EDU and how it felt like an onion that kept unravelling.  Every time that she thought that she knew everything there was to know about the software, another layer appeared.

This, of course, is one of the most exciting parts of being involved in training around this technology.  People like Sheba are insatiably curious and in our various programs, we have a chance to dive deep into the nitty-gritty and help our clients with very specific practical situations that they can then take back to their respective businesses.

Sheba has been at RACV for more than 15 years now and has come through a number of roles along the way, across almost every part of the modelling and reporting value chain.  Having come from a software development background herself, she was always keen to dive into the code itself and understand how things worked at the very lowest level of abstraction.

As she did this over her career, she realized just how far IBM Planning Analytics could be pushed and her curiosity pushed her to look for more answers.  In addition, she realized that there was only one other person in the company with the requisite knowledge to understand the whole system back to front.  She wanted to find out more about the intricacies of the system and how it could be leveraged for her financial modelling and analysis, while also providing an internal knowledge store that wasn’t just in the head of one person.

She looked online and found a number of different training providers, one of which was us here at Cubewise EDU.  Not satisfied with relying on just one company, she took it upon herself to engage with a couple of different options so that she could get as well-rounded a training experience as possible.

When we asked her to compare the programs she went on, she mentioned that each one has its own training style and so you really have to find the right fit for your personality and the way that you learn.  However, she found herself coming back time and time again to Cubewise EDU because of the strength of the learning material and the flow of the various programs that she took part in.

She also loved the energy that the trainers brought to the table.  Even though everything was remote, she really felt like they were with her every step of the way, bringing their extensive knowledge to the table for whatever questions were being asked.  Things that seemed overwhelming at first quickly became clear as the trainers worked through practical examples in as much depth as was required by those in attendance.

The core of her testimonial was that the training helped to identify those things that she didn’t know – unlocking new opportunities to leverage the software for more efficient operations.  So many of the questions that she had just required someone to point her to the most appropriate feature, and she took to it like a duck to water.

Sheba’s story is one among many because of the vast scope of what IBM Planning Analytics can achieve.  Even for those who have been working with the system for decades can learn something new every day if that’s the attitude they carry.  Even here at Cubewise, we are learning new things all the time and continue to be amazed by what the magic of functional databases can do.  This simple concept unlocks a near-infinite range of opportunities for you to build a custom system that delivers exactly what you’re looking for.

That’s what we try and do at Cubewise EDU.  If we can open your eyes to what is possible and work with you to make it happen – then we’re doing our job.  Whether you’re just getting started or you’ve been doing this for years, we have material that can shed light on some of the hidden potential that lies latent in this technology.

It’s the most exciting treasure hunt in all of business and that’s what we live for.

Sheba’s energy and curiosity drives us every day to look for more.  We won’t stop.