iBanFirst Embraces Data-Driven Decision Making with CastorDoc

This customer story is contributed by Fatimata Sall, Head of Data at iBanFirst. iBanFirst is a fintech company dedicated to international payments for small and medium-sized businesses. Founded in 2016, it has grown to over 350 employees across 10 European countries, processing more than 1.5 billion euros in transactions monthly. At the heart of this growth is a strong commitment to leveraging data for business insights and decision-making.

Introduction

"Our end goal is to make sure everyone in our organization, regardless of their role, can work with data on their own to make better informed decisions" Fatimata Sall, Head of Data at iBanFirst.

As Head of Data at iBanfirst, I lead a centralized team that's really at the heart of our company's operations. We work with pretty much every department - sales, risk, marketing, compliance, you name it. Each team has its own unique data needs, so we've set up our analysts to work closely with specific business units. This way, we can deliver insights that really hit the mark for each department's particular goals. It's all about providing the key information that drives decision-making throughout the company.

Since 2016, IbanFirst has grown tremendously. We've gone from under 200 people in just three countries to over 350 across 10 countries. My own journey at the company reflects this growth - I started leading business intelligence under the Chief Data Officer, and now I'm Head of Data reporting to the Chief Strategy Officer. Throughout this time, I've been pushing for more data-driven decisions across the company. Our big goal is to give every team the power to work directly with reliable data through self-service analytics. This means sales, finance, product teams - everyone can dig into data to inform their strategies and projects. As a fintech company handling over 1.5 billion euros in monthly transactions for more than 10,000 global clients, we need quick access to accurate data.

Our rapid growth made it clear we needed strong data governance to keep our data consistent and high-quality across the whole organization.

The Problem: Scaling Data Governance Amidst Rapid Growth

“As the company was growing a lot, we had more and more KPIs to report. It became increasingly difficult to ensure everyone was using the same definitions. One department would share a KPI, and when another department looked at it, they would disagree on its meaning.” Fatimata Sall, Head of Data at iBanFirst.

As iBanfirst grew rapidly from 200 to 350 employees across multiple countries, we faced some real challenges with our data. The biggest issue? Keeping our KPI definitions consistent.

With our growth, we suddenly had a ton more KPIs to track. It became a real headache to make sure everyone was on the same page about what these numbers meant. We'd have one department share a KPI, and another would look at it and say, "Hold on, that's not right."

This led to some tricky situations. We'd have different teams interpreting the same KPI in different ways, which made it difficult to compare results or look at year-over-year trends. And of course, when you can't trust your data, making informed business decisions becomes a lot riskier.

We tried to fix this with a basic system using Confluence pages, thinking, "Let's just write down definitions for our main KPIs." But as we kept growing, it just wasn't cutting it. When definitions evolved or changed, not everyone would remember to update the Confluence page.

To add to the mix, we introduced self-service analytics tools like MetaBase. Great for giving teams more independence, but it also meant people sometimes forgot important details or used the wrong data sources leading to inaccurate results and conclusions.

Our data stack was evolving too. We'd just started using dbt, so we needed to document all our new tables and processes. Our analysts had more freedom to build and tweak tables, which was great, but it meant we really needed better documentation and governance.

I realized we needed something more robust than what we had. Our data processes had gotten too complex for our old solutions. We needed a tool that could keep up with our growth and ensure our data stayed consistent, accurate, and reliable across the whole company. Ultimately, we needed a shift in our data culture and a tool to support us in doing so.

The Solution: Implementing CastorDoc for Data Governance

"We partnered with CastorDoc to establish robust data governance and self-service data access capabilities at scale. I chose CastorDoc because it was user-friendly and could easily integrate with our existing data stack.” Fatimata Sall, Head of Data at iBanFirst.

To address the data challenges we were facing at iBanFirst, we decided to implement CastorDoc in 2023, a data catalog and governance tool. CastorDoc was chosen for its user-friendly interface and its ability to integrate with iBanfirst's existing data stack, including Snowflake, dbt, Tableau, and Metabase.

Our implementation process was quite strategic. We started by having our data team populate the tool with initial content. Then, we organized a dedicated 'CastorDoc Day' in February, which really accelerated our progress in writing definitions and certifying them. I was closely monitoring the implementation daily, and when I felt it wasn't moving fast enough, this CastorDoc Day proved to be a game-changer.

We also took a tailored approach to onboarding different business teams. I didn't want a one-size-fits-all company-level onboarding. Instead, we created dedicated sessions linked to each team's specific use cases. Each department has its usage of the data, for instance the compliance and product teams don't look at the same things.

One challenge we faced was ensuring there was enough content in CastorDoc before training the business teams. We wanted them to find value immediately upon accessing the tool. So we had some beta testers and gradually rolled out the tool across departments.

The Impact: Enhanced Data Quality and Efficiency

"The implementation of CastorDoc has impacted three key areas of our data culture: data governance, operational efficiency, and data security." Fatimata Sall, Head of Data at iBanFirst.

Overall, CastorDoc helped me achieved the data goals I’d set in 3 areas:

1. Enhanced Data Governance and Quality: CastorDoc has become our single source of truth for data definitions, corresponding to a cultural shift in how we approach data. Now, when people look for figures, they systematically ensure alignment with the definitions in CastorDoc. This consistency has eliminated discrepancies in KPI interpretations across departments, leading to more accurate and reliable data.
2. Improved Operational Efficiency: CastorDoc’s data lineage feature has transformed our workflow, particularly in managing data changes. Previously, renaming or deleting a field involved a reactive process of waiting for refreshes and fixing broken dashboards. Now, we can proactively assess the impact of changes, easily saving a day's work for each modification. This newfound efficiency has not only saved countless hours but also prevented potential data inconsistencies.
3. Strengthened Data Security: As a fintech company, data security is paramount. CastorDoc has enhanced our ability to manage sensitive information. We've implemented flags for personal information in our data assets, which I can directly report to our CISO. This feature has streamlined our compliance processes and improved our overall data security posture.

Measuring Success:

To quantify CastorDoc's impact, I track two key metrics daily: the number of certified definitions and the number of active users of our data tools. The consistent growth in both metrics serves as a tangible indicator of CastorDoc's positive influence on the company's data culture.

This improvement in data management has not only enhanced the technical aspects of our operations but has also enabled a more data-aware culture, setting a strong foundation for data-driven decision-making at iBanFirst.

What's Next

“As we continue to grow and evolve, CastorDoc will play an increasingly central role in ensuring that our data remains accurate, accessible, and secure.” Fatimata Sall, Head of Data at iBanFirst.

Looking ahead, we have ambitious plans to further leverage the CastorDoc tool and enhance our data operations across multiple fronts.

1. Expanding Adoption and Feature Utilization: We need to boost awareness and usage of CastorDoc's full suite of features. Particularly, we're focusing on increasing adoption of AI-driven capabilities. To achieve this, we're planning a communication strategy, including regular training sessions and showcases of successful use cases.
2. Deepening Integration with Existing Tools: A key focus area is enhancing CastorDoc's integration with our most widely used analytics tool, Metabase. The Metabase integration is crucial for us. Most of our users rely on Metabase, so improving this connection will significantly boost our data governance efforts. We're actively working with the CastorDoc team to develop more robust lineage tracking and metadata synchronization between the two platforms.
3. Optimizing Definition Management: As our use of CastorDoc matures, we're shifting focus from simply increasing the number of definitions to optimizing their quality and relevance. It's great that we have more definitions, but we need to ensure they're all necessary and well-maintained. We're implementing a regular review process to refine and consolidate our definitions, ensuring they remain accurate and useful.

CastorDoc has already transformed our approach to data governance. As we continue to grow and evolve, it will play an increasingly central role in ensuring that our data remains accurate, accessible, and secure. This strategic use of CastorDoc will not only support our growth trajectory but also reinforce our commitment to maintaining strong data governance and quality across all aspects of our operations.