One of the most anticipated parts of my time so far at Ivey was upon me. The first day of Ivey Analytics Lab placement. As I embarked on the next step of my journey through the MSc program, I thought about how far I had come in the past few months. I thought about everything I had learned in my courses so far, and the excitement that I had knowing that I’d be able to use what I had learned over the past few months with a real company, who had real business questions, that I could help provide answers to. Learning is fun, but being able to help people and businesses has always been a key motivator for me, and this opportunity was my first chance to do so with my newly acquired analytics abilities.
Enter ND Graphics, a company that began as a small family business, and had grown to become one of the national leaders in providing supplies to the sign and imaging markets. It’s amazing to see how far this company has come in just under 4 decades, scaling up to having branches located in 10 major cities nationwide and likely having supplied the materials to build the signs, graphics, and fixtures that are so commonplace in today’s world. In a way, I felt like the growth and progression of this company could start to mirror my own growth; a kid on his way to becoming a budding young professional in the world of analytics.
With a growing company comes growing responsibilities, and it was challenging to visualize just how large the scale of operations were, working at the head office of such a fast-paced, dynamic industry. The emergence of 3D printing was just the latest of new technology that was coming out every year to expand the portfolio of products that were sold at the company. It is easy to lose sight of things when business is booming, and it is important not to become comfortable with past successes. Fortunately, despite the impressive trajectory of sales that already exceeded 10,000 different clients, ND was not resting on its laurels. Despite new clients providing new business almost daily and the acquisition of other companies in the past few years, ND has managed to stick to its roots.
I have been fortunate enough to join a company that despite its growth, has maintained the same culture that has existed throughout its existence. The president of the company keeps his door open and is open to hearing any ideas that someone may have, no matter what their position is at the workplace, which goes to show how tight-knit everyone is. Everyone is friendly and approachable if you need something, and someone is always bringing in some sort of food just because they’re always thinking of their co-workers, no occasion needed. My personal favourite so far have been the Krispy Kreme donuts that have made a couple appearances in the past few weeks! It’s clear that everyone at this company cares about each other as much as they do about the success of the company. I’m looking forward to taking the large amount of data that ND Graphics has collected and identify segments with high potential to help expand their business, as they allow me to expand my knowledge, and possibly my belly as well, throughout the summer!
