Data Leader's Wish List
At 173tech, we see how Heads of Data balance the technical debt of scaling infrastructure with the strategic push to deliver insights faster. Their world is one of constant trade-offs: do you patch the old system or rebuild from scratch? How do you meet business needs today while preparing for tomorrow? Here are the most common wishes we hear, and how they can be made into reality.
A Pipeline That Just Works
The wish:
“I want reliable pipelines that don’t break every other week. I need to trust that my data is flowing correctly without constant firefighting.”
The challenge:
As companies grow, SQL queries, scripts, and one-off fixes tend to multiply across tools and teams. What starts as a simple setup quickly becomes a tangled web of code and dependencies. This brittle infrastructure is fragile and time-consuming to maintain; one broken pipeline can eat up hours of valuable time, delaying reporting and slowing down decision-making. While a full rebuild is tempting, it can take six months or more to deliver, and in the meantime, the business still expects data to be accurate and available every day.
The solution:
At 173tech, we help by building clean, scalable pipelines in parallel to your existing stack. That means the business continues to run on the old setup without interruption, while we quietly establish a robust foundation behind the scenes. Once ready, your team can transition seamlessly to the new infrastructure, gaining a system that’s stable, easy to maintain, and future-proof. No downtime, no firefighting, just pipelines that work as they should.
Faster Time to Value
The wish:
“I want to integrate new data sources without waiting months. When the business needs answers, we should not have to wait for long integration projects to get the insights.”
The challenge:
Modern companies run on dozens of tools across marketing, finance, product, and operations. Each holds a vital piece of the puzzle, but bringing them together into one trusted dataset is rarely straightforward. Every new integration requires its own custom work, setting up connections, cleaning and mapping data, building the right models. This slows down time to value and leaves teams frustrated, waiting weeks or months for the ‘single source of truth’ that leadership has been promised. In fast-growing environments, those delays can mean missed opportunities and misaligned decisions.
The solution:
173tech makes this process fast and seamless. We can plug in any data source, whether through existing connectors or by creating custom ones, and transform it into clean, consistent models that meet gold-standard best practices. Instead of long integration projects, your team gets new data sources up and running quickly, without compromising on quality or governance. This means you can move faster, respond to business needs in real time, and keep everyone aligned around a single, trusted view of the truth.
Specialised Expertise on Tap
The wish:
“I want experts I can lean on without needing to hire for every niche skill. My team should be able to focus on what we’re best at, while still having access to deep expertise when it matters.”
The challenge:
Data touches every part of a modern business, from campaign attribution and customer lifetime value, to churn modelling, experimentation, and forecasting. But no in-house team, no matter how strong, can be experts in everything. Hiring for every niche skill is costly, slow, and often impractical, especially for businesses that need to remain lean and agile. As new challenges emerge, like advanced attribution modelling, behavioural analysis, or marketing mix optimisation, teams are forced to either stretch beyond their core strengths or delay projects until the right hire comes along. Both paths create bottlenecks and missed opportunities.
The solution:
173tech provides access to specialised expertise exactly when and where you need it. Our team brings deep knowledge in areas like marketing analytics, advertising performance, and customer behaviour, and can slot seamlessly into your day-to-day workflows. Instead of recruiting for every skill gap, you can scale your capabilities on demand, adding extra firepower to solve specific problems and accelerate progress. This flexible approach keeps your core team focused, reduces hiring risk, and ensures you always have the right expertise at the table to drive growth.
A Sounding Board for Strategy
The wish:
“I want a trusted partner to sanity-check my thinking. When I’m making decisions about tools, architecture, or processes, I need someone impartial to weigh in.”
The challenge:
Data leaders are often caught between the weeds of technical detail and the high-level expectations of executives. They are tasked with evaluating tools, shaping data strategy, and ensuring scalability, all while managing day-to-day operations. The problem is, most tool decisions are influenced by sales pitches or internal biases. It is easy to end up over-investing in platforms that do not deliver, stitching together tools that do not integrate well, or missing opportunities to simplify. Having an external perspective that’s not tied to any vendor is rare but essential.
The solution:
173tech provides that impartial sounding board. We regularly audit tool stacks, assess whether platforms are being fully utilised, and highlight overlaps or inefficiencies. Because we are tool-agnostic, our advice is grounded in what will actually work best for your business, not in vendor incentives. Whether you are considering a new warehouse, rethinking your BI layer, or just questioning if your current setup is fit for purpose, we’re available to sanity-check your strategy. Even if you never become a client, we’re open to jumping on a call to give you an honest, outside-in perspective.
A Wish List Within Reach
A pipeline that just works
Faster time to value
Specialised expertise on tap
A sounding board for strategy
At 173tech, we exist to make this wish list real. By combining founder empathy with data expertise, we help you move beyond scattered spreadsheets and reactive reporting to a world where insight is instant, consistent, and actionable. Because in the end, good data isn’t about tools or dashboards it’s about giving founders the freedom to focus on building, scaling, and leading with conviction.
Get In Touch
Our friendly team are always on hand to answer questions, troubleshoot problems and point you in the right direction.
