Services
Our goal is to help our customers to make the best possible choices in their business. We do this by enabling and maximizing the use of data wherever feasible.
Datablinc is a trusted advisor for enterprise scale data platforms. We have experience in building some of the largest data platform & analytics solutions in the Nordics on Microsoft Azure. If you are planning a data & AI project that you cannot afford to fail, our humble recommendation is to contact us. We have vast experience not only in architecture design, but also ensuring that development teams stay on track by helping them to overcome any of the hurdles during the projects.
Datablinc was born for the love of data platform technologies. It is inevitable that the passion to solve even the most complex of technical challenges will show during our engagements. We deliver with the greatest promise for success. Datablinc provides advanced level Azure data platform consultation for Microsoft customers and partners. We offer:
- architecture design & reviews
- implementations help for early phases of development
- troubleshooting difficult technical issues
What do we mean by data platform?
Data platform may be understood in various ways. Our expertise covers Microsoft’s Data & AI products. Today, that consists of all the services related to storing and processing data on Microsoft Azure. Some concrete examples of our experience are introduced in the following chapter.
What is beyond the scope of our services?
We do not offer hosting nor maintenance services.
Examples of our work
Architecture
Architecture design is not just about coming up with a technically feasible solution. It is about being able to solve the problem at hand in multiple ways and evaluating the pros and cons of each to figure out the optimal. One needs to consider for instance TCO, scalability and security. In addition, target architecture may evolve due to new technologies and services constantly being introduced. We do architecture reviews to ensure that our clients are still working towards optimal targets.
Cloud transformation
Data analytics is probably the most lucrative field for cloud platform usage. The latest technology is instantly available and upgrades to your existing solutions are effortless. You can focus on adding value by developing new instead of maintaining the old. There is effort however, in designing how to move to the cloud. We acknowledge that cloud native approach (using mainly PaaS and SaaS) is required to reap the full benefits of cloud. The environment is very different from on-premises. Thus, also a separate cloud governance model is necessary.
Business Intelligence
Nearly every organization benefits from employing data-driven decision making. Today’s cloud platforms and cost-efficient Software as a Service products (such as Power BI) make Business Intelligence accessible to every organization. While we are well-versed in creating dashboards and reports, our core competency lies in ensuring that the backend (e.g., Analysis Services, Power BI Datasets) is fully optimized for delivering insights at lightning speed.
Data Lakehouse
Storing all data in a single location offers major benefits. It dramatically reduces the need for unnecessary data movement. Historically, we have had separate Data Warehouses and Data Lakes to serve different use cases (e.g., Business Intelligence, Machine Learning). Today, we leverage a Data Lakehouse for all needs.
Data Lakehouse architecture should be thoroughly planned to ensure that the organization can maximize the use of their data at minimum cost. Data should be stored in an open format as cloud platform creates an ecosystem where different technologies integrate and even converge at times. This approach enables users to extract insights from data regardless of the technology of their choice.
Integration
We are living in a real-time world. Information spreads around the globe at the speed of light. The stream processing implementations for data integrations are enabling this trend. The proportion of near real-time integrations is constantly increasing. However, many decisions do not, and will not require real-time information. Batch processing data is as important as ever. We want to ensure however, that even the traditional batch processing development is following modern development practices (CI/CD) with cloud native services. In addition, we want everyone to avoid unnecessary repetitive work by advising a metadata driven approach to large scale integrations.
MLOps
A machine learning model will not deliver value before it is deployed to production. The diverse set of tools and environments add complexity to the challenge. There is a need for a standard for moving models into production. A model registry where you can easily decide which one you want to deploy is required. The deployment pipeline should be the same regardless of the model. In addition, in order to reproduce a ML model, the data and code along with parameters need to be stored. In short, ML experiments must be tracked.
Once the model is deployed to production, monitoring is required (to detect model drift for instance). While the monitoring is specific to a model, the implementation effort necessary for monitoring can and should be minimized.
Talent
Oskari Heikkinen has focused solely on Microsoft’s Data Platform in his work for over a decade. He has received the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award for his contributions in Data Platform for the last three consecutive years (2019-2021). There are only three people in Finland that have won the award. More information about the award is available at the MVP website.
Oskari travels around Europe to share his knowledge and passion with others in various technology conferences and Microsoft’s technology events.
In addition, he has attained the latest relevant certifications. Microsoft describes the certifications as follows:
“Earning the Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification demonstrates skills and knowledge to advise stakeholders and translate business requirements into secure, scalable, and reliable solutions. Candidates have advanced experience and knowledge across various aspects of IT operations, including networking, virtualization, identity, security, business continuity, disaster recovery, data management, budgeting, and governance – managing how decisions in each area affects an overall solution.”
“Earning the Azure Data Engineer Associate certification validates the skills and knowledge to design and implement the management, monitoring, security, and privacy of data using the full stack of Azure data services to satisfy business needs.”
Datablinc employs Oskari Heikkinen. As a result, Datablinc always has an inside track into where data platform and Microsoft Azure are headed.
Talent
Oskari Heikkinen has focused solely on Microsoft’s Data Platform in his work for over a decade. He has received the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award for his contributions in Data Platform for the last four consecutive years (2019-2022). There are only three people in Finland that have won the award. More information about the award is available at the MVP website.
Oskari travels around Europe to share his knowledge and passion with others in various technology conferences and Microsoft’s technology events.
In addition, Oskari has attained the latest relevant certifications. Microsoft describes the certifications as follows:
“Earning the Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification demonstrates skills and knowledge to advise stakeholders and translate business requirements into secure, scalable, and reliable solutions. Candidates have advanced experience and knowledge across various aspects of IT operations, including networking, virtualization, identity, security, business continuity, disaster recovery, data management, budgeting, and governance – managing how decisions in each area affects an overall solution.”
“Earning the Azure Data Engineer Associate certification validates the skills and knowledge to design and implement the management, monitoring, security, and privacy of data using the full stack of Azure data services to satisfy business needs.”
Datablinc employs Oskari Heikkinen. As a result, Datablinc always has an inside track into where data platform and Microsoft Azure are headed.
Partners
Datablinc works closely together with Microsoft. You may have seen our employee on stage delivering session about a recent customer success story or a technical deep-dive at one of the Microsoft and Microsoft ecosystem events around Europe.
Social media and communities
The development and adoption of new technologies has been dramatically accelerating over the past years. It is of crucial importance to continuously learn new skills and technologies. Sharing one’s knowledge with peers and colleagues is an excellent way of helping each other to keep up with the pace of constant change.
Oskari is giving back to the technical communities worldwide by traveling and speaking in various events. In addition, he is co-hosting the Microsoft BI & Power BI User Group in Finland. The main communication channel for the user group is Meetup where all new events are announced.
The user group is also continuously looking for new speakers. Please get in touch if you are interested in delivering a presentation.
Oskari also has a Youtube channel where he shares his vision and thoughts about the latest data platform & analytics updates. Announcements about new videos are always posted to Linkedin and Twitter.
Contact us
We exist to create solutions for your needs. Please do not hesitate to contact us for any further questions and enquiries about our services. We would love to hear from you. The best way to get in touch is directly with Oskari Heikkinen either by phone or email.
+358 40 561 8481
oskari.heikkinen@datablinc.com
Osuuskunnantie 47, Helsinki
Oskari Heikkinen
Microsoft Most Valuable Professional: Data Platform
Microsoft Certified: Azure Solution Architect
Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Engineer
MSc.: Automation and Systems Technology, Helsinki University of Technology
Phone: +358 40 5618481
LinkedIn profile
Vesa Tikkanen
Microsoft Most Valuable Professional: Data Platform
Microsoft Certified Solution Master: Data Platform
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server 2008
MSc.: Software Architecture, Helsinki University of Technology
Phone: +358 501 765
LinkedIn profile
Vesa has his own company Qumio (www.qumio.com).
Oskari and Vesa work closely with Microsoft Fabric customers. We can offer compherensive design, audit and implementation services either with your existing partner or to showcase you the possibilities of Fabric in a PoC or accelerating your next step in your Fabric journey.
About us
Datablinc Ltd
Founder: Oskari Heikkinen
Email: oskari.heikkinen@datablinc.com
Phone: +358 40 561 8481
Address: Osuuskunnantie 47 A 1, 00660 Helsinki
Business ID: 3129152-5
VAT ID: FI31291525