Recently, Digital First Magazine interviewed Coda Strategy’s managing director, David Zhao, on his experience as a leader in AI and digital transformations:

Coda Strategy is an independent consultancy. We work on the same types of business challenges in digital strategy that large consulting firms provide services for.

So, traditionally, companies have relied on large consulting firms to address their most challenging business problems. And over the decades, those large traditional firms have grown in prestige and size, as they expanded their capabilities and industries.

The traditional consulting model has remained unchanged during this time. Experienced senior leaders with strong relationships guide teams of smart, talented employees who learn from their leaders how to solve clients’ most challenging problems.

However, this model can leave some clients feeling overserved.

First, most companies now employ former consultants who are increasingly sophisticated at buying services and defining scope. This leads to fewer open-ended projects and more specialized initiatives.

Second, cost pressures, especially during economic downturns, have led companies to look for cost-effective alternatives where possible.

Third, sometimes a well-defined problem requires just one expert rather than a team of smart generalists.

As a result, independent consultancies such as Coda Strategy have carved out a niche working directly with those clients who feel overserved by traditional consulting firms.

So, we’re very much a substitute for traditional consulting, not a direct competitor, specifically in areas like enterprise architecture or data strategy.

Designing High-Performing Programs that Transform Business Lines

Coda Strategy was recently quoted by You Can Be Found on how to adapt to Google Analytics 4:

Explore explorations

The advantage of GA4 is that it provides much more granular data than previous iterations of Google Analytics. However, that means there’s more data to sift through.

Fortunately, Google provides an easy, intuitive way to explore that data, called Explorations. They allow digital marketers to tell a story while exploring the data. This means more time uncovering insights and less time fiddling with reports.

Jeremy Skillings. (July 19, 2023) How To Adapt To Google Analytics 4 (GA4) -14 Digital Marketers Share Their Tips. You Can Be Found

Acuity Training reached out to Coda Strategy on tips for learning Power BI:

Learn logical storytelling

I can’t stress this enough. A dashboard is meaningless unless it leaves the audience with insights that are meaningful. However, many PowerBI beginners focus exclusively on learning the technical aspects.

Instead, PowerBI experts begin with the story they want to tell, leverage PowerBI to tell that story with powerful visuals, and make it very clear, very early, what the audience should learn.

Minuca Elena. (February 15, 2023) Power BI Tips & Tricks: 15 Experts Give Their Top 3 Tips. Acuity Training

IT Companies featured Coda Strategy on the benefits and challenges of Cloud Migration

The top benefit of a cloud migration is an opportunity to rethink the business of IT. A cloud migration offers IT professionals a way to start their IT infrastructure and IT operations from a blank canvas, adopting state-of-the-art tools, and avoiding pitfalls with aging legacy technology.

In turn, cloud service providers maintain the mundane aspects of the underlying infrastructure, freeing up programmers to focus on more creative tasks, such as solving business problems.

On the flip side, the top challenge is that many cloud migration teams fail to include the business. They need to involve the business. We need to kill the myth that a cloud migration is the CIO’s problem. The myth is destructive to the firm.

First, the CIO needs to involve business stakeholders, such as the CMO or the Chief Supply Chain Officer.

Second, the CIO needs to prepare a list of pressing business challenges beforehand, that is prepared along with business leaders.

Third, the CIO needs to vet cloud solutions that can solve those business problems. Otherwise, they will end up buying a hammer that is looking for a nail.

Minuca Elena. (January 31, 2023) 14 IT Experts Share The Benefits and Challenges of Cloud Migration. IT Companies

Data Science Dojo, which offers a data science bootcamp, reached out to Coda Strategy to discuss successful data science tips to learn. Here is what we shared:

Never put all your eggs in one tool, one platform, or one framework. Expect technology to change and learn how to adapt to new tools. At the same time, don’t just adopt new tools for the sake of having the latest toys. Do your due diligence and evaluate technology vendors on a periodic basis, to learn which tools are likely to become the next standard, and which are likely to remain niche products.

Ayesha Saleh. (October 12, 2022) 27 successful data science tips to learn before 2023. Data Science Dojo

On September 26, 2022, David Zhao had the chance to speak with Best Startup Texas about entrepreneurship:

It is really easy to start a business in Texas. The paperwork is straightforward. The Texas Secretary of State’s office does a great job at streamlining everything.

David Zhao, Coda Strategy

Low-code development tools are seeing an uptick in adoption rates. The problem is, many businesses don’t fully understand low-code before they dive in…which leads to unpleasant surprises and expensive ‘gotchas’.

“Low-code does not mean low-knowledge,” says David Zhao, Managing Director of Coda Strategy. “They have their own learning curves, which can sometimes be very steep, for the more complex tools.”

Joe Stangarone. (September 1, 2022) 10 things to know before diving into low-code. mrc’s Cup of Joe Blog

CIOs and IT decision makers should ask several questions about how and why they use third-party consultants to plan hybrid cloud strategy and roll out change. Coda Strategy offered one important question to the Enterprisers Project.

“With any technology, the CIO needs to ask: ‘With this tool, how can I create more business value than my business colleagues could without the tool?’” says David Zhao, managing director of Coda Strategy. “Cloud is no different. Cloud consultants need to bring business solutions to challenges that are relevant to the CIO’s peers in the executive team. Otherwise, cloud risks being a hammer looking for a nail.”

Kevin Casey. (June 21, 2022) Cloud consultants: 4 questions to ask about your strategy. The Enterprisers Project