From Zürich, with a glimpse of Italy, we bring you the story of a former handball player, current snowboarder, and future chess player – Dario Genovese. Handling BI is a smorgasbord of responsibilities, so let’s hear how Dario is dealing with the diversity of his work!
This January has marked three full years since Dario signed on the dotted line to join HICO-Group. The work of a Business Intelligence Consultant is a centrifuge of data, challenges, and helpful business outcomes. It is a diversified role with many hats – all of which Dario seemingly enjoys to wear. When asked about his favorite things in the work of a BI Consultant, Dario screamed:
Everything! For me, it’s the whole package that makes this job interesting – the conceptual and strategic topics, the project management, the people management, the technical bits… There is a diversification in the role itself. You rarely do just one thing but have different roles to cover. On the other side, there are these pesky little things called ‘bugs’ that make life harder. In every shape, form, or variation they appear!
Huh, we hear ya! Are there any other challenges you find on a daily basis – or other processes our readers might find interesting?
Well, to put it in perspective, the goal is always to deliver a product that helps the user make decisions based on the data that they have. To enable the so-called ‘data-driven decision-making’. To get to that point, there are quite a few things that need to happen. The great pleasure for me is I don’t only have to code but handle strategic topics, the project, and people management dimensions too.
There is also the element of ‘keeping up with technology’, be it our in-house tools like TRUECHART and KPI-CHAT, or Qlik and PowerBI. In the BI environment, everything is evolving at such a rapid pace so it becomes an additional challenge not to lose access to all this new stuff. We are always aiming to ‘outpace’ it.
Sweet! Speaking of additional challenges, we know last year has brought us quite a few. Did you notice any shift in dynamic or major change in your work since the pandemic started?
For me personally, only some elements of work have changed, as I was already used to working remotely. Before the pandemic hit, I was working with clients two days a week, and three days from either home or the HICO office. The biggest change is the lack of traveling and client visits; having to do everything remotely. Some clients weren’t the biggest fans of going remote.
Another gap I noticed is trying to get and have all the information. Normally, we’d use moments like coffee breaks or corridor walks to talk about certain issues and opportunities, which has been reduced. However, our success hasn’t been reduced by this fact which is what really matters at the end of the day.
We’re glad to hear you’re still going strong, Dario. Now, time for some rapid-fire questions! Short questions, short answers. Please tell us the first thing that pops into your mind for each of these things, okay?
What is the most interesting thing you’ve read this week?
The new QlikSense release. It has some really nice features!
Name your favorite thing about HICO.
Team spirit.
Describe yourself in 3 words.
Fast-thinking. Reliable. Humorous (sometimes).
What is your favorite winter activity?
Snowboarding.
What is your favorite summer activity?
Road trips and holidays.
Name one thing you could not live without.
My phone.
Where would you go right now if you were invisible?
Microsoft headquarters. I’d like to have a sneak peek into their tech of the future. Just imagine the conversations that go on there… just wow!
Favorite movie.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Favorite TV show.
Fauda.
Name one person in your life who inspires you.
My father. His life story is inspiring to me. At age 18, he came to Switzerland from Italy to build a new life. You could say he started from scratch, as he had zero knowledge of the language and not a big fancy education. Because of this, he insisted on doing things a certain way all his life – the school of life way – which I found annoying at times. But, the truth is my father taught me a great deal and I cherish a lot of invaluable lessons from him.
Name one person at work who inspires you.
Ralph Ginzinger. He is a great person, an ideal colleague and superior. There is a lot I learned from him.
What is one thing about you that people would be surprised to know?
Probably that I am 2 meters tall. You usually can’t tell just by looking at a photo but I am really tall. And yes, I often get asked: “Do you play basketball?” No, I don’t play basketball. 🙂 I played handball most of my life but never basketball. Handball has been out of the picture for a while.
Before the pandemic, I used to play football regularly. I also recently started playing chess, which is great for mental health. I haven’t been playing chess for long; I am not good at it yet, but I think all of these things combined are something people would not expect from my side.
Share your best piece of advice.
Make the best out of every situation, no matter how hard it is.
Name 3 things you’re going to do right after this call.
1) Make myself a hot cup of coffee
2) Get back to work
3) Relax ‘til the end of the day 🙂
Well, we certainly hope so too! Thank you for the lovely conversation today, Dario. Best of luck to you and your team in the future!
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