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DATA & AI CONSULTANCY

We don't pitch on Data and AI.
We prove it.

Enterprise data foundations for retail, CPG, and regulated industry leaders who are tired of consultants who've never delivered anything at scale. We've led teams of 140+, managed $40M+ budgets, and delivered $52M in direct P&L impact. At the world's largest.

Walmart International Best Buy ASDA / Walmart UK Dixons Carphone Tesco Bank HCL Technologies

You don't have a data problem.
You have a delivery problem.

The big consultancies send you a team of graduates with a playbook they've used at every client. Six months and seven figures later, you've got a beautiful strategy deck and nothing in production. We've seen it — at Best Buy, at Walmart, at Dixons Carphone. We've cleaned it up. We don't do that.

Six ways we make your data actually work.

Data Foundations

Our flagship. We assess, architect, and build the data infrastructure your analytics and AI ambitions actually need. Cloud-native, audit-ready, and designed for scale. No shortcuts, no technical debt.

Architecture Governance Cloud Migration Data Quality Lakehouse

Platform Modernization

Multi-year cloud migration programs delivered on time and under budget. We've moved 300+ application portfolios off legacy infrastructure — with audit-ready governance frameworks baked in from day one.

Azure GCP AWS Databricks API Integration

AI Agent Development

Purpose-built AI agents that accelerate your data development lifecycle. ML feature stores, real-time inference, and agentic workflows. Not science projects — production-ready tools that ship value from day one.

Custom Agents Feature Stores ML Ops GenAI

Data Monetization

We built the platform that became Walmart's Data Ventures — a standalone revenue-generating division. We know how to turn data from a cost center into a P&L line item because we've done it at $52M scale.

Revenue Models Data Products Partnerships Valuation

Compliance & Privacy

Privacy-by-design, GDPR, CCPA, AI ethics — we've achieved 100% compliance across 300+ application portfolios and mitigated €20M in regulatory risk. We build compliance in, not bolt it on.

GDPR / CCPA AI Ethics Privacy-by-Design Audit-Ready

Strategic Assessment & Vendor Management

Clear-eyed evaluation of where you are and where you need to be. Plus vendor rationalization that stops you overpaying — we've delivered $6M in savings through platform consolidation alone.

Current State Roadmap Vendor Evaluation Cost Optimization

$52M in P&L impact. $6M in savings. Real numbers, not promises.

$52M
Direct P&L impact in 18 months
Data products & platforms at Walmart
140+
People led at enterprise scale
Across 6 countries, 9 international markets
$40M+
Budget responsibility
Capital and operational across Fortune 100
15+
Years of enterprise data leadership
From Tesco Bank to Walmart to Best Buy
Best Buy

Led 140-person data org through full cloud modernization — $6M annual savings

Directed multi-year migration from legacy on-premises infrastructure to cloud-native architecture across a 300+ application portfolio. Achieved 100% compliance through privacy-by-design frameworks and AI ethics programs. Decommissioned three legacy data environments. Built an enterprise ML feature store that reduced data latency by 99%, enabling real-time personalization at scale. Managed $32M+ budget.

Walmart International

$52M P&L recognition in 18 months — pioneered Walmart's Data Ventures

Architected the data monetization strategy and platform that became the foundation for Walmart's Data Ventures division — now a standalone revenue-generating business. Led supply chain resilience during COVID-19 across 9 international markets, implementing advanced forecasting and data integration under extreme constraints. Managed 90+ direct reports and 200+ extended personnel across 6 countries with $40M+ budget.

ASDA / Walmart UK

Mitigated €20M GDPR risk — delivered UK's largest Tableau & Alteryx rollout

Led enterprise data strategy serving 145,000 employees and 18 million customers. Implemented comprehensive GDPR compliance framework through enterprise data modeling and privacy-by-design principles. Secured €2M in cost savings through platform consolidation and reduced report production time by 20% through standardized data access patterns.

Dixons Carphone

£4M BI transformation across 3 countries — 40% cost reduction

Designed and executed a three-year Business Intelligence transformation implementing a comprehensive Microsoft BI solution for 36,000 employees. Established a strategic BI team in Czech Republic achieving 40% reduction in operational costs. Managed 50+ person department spanning three countries with full P&L accountability.

Tesco Bank

Solved £3.3M cost challenge — shifted org from 20% to 80% strategic analysis

Directed data operations within regulated financial services, modernizing MI infrastructure while maintaining audit-aligned controls. Developed enterprise performance reporting that transformed the organization from spending 80% of time on report production to 80% on strategic analysis and actionable insights.

HCL Technologies

Scaled $35M AI & Data practice — evaluated 50+ companies for acquisition

Currently leading AI & Data Go-To-Market practice across retail and CPG verticals in North America and Europe. Led due diligence on 50+ global data companies, evaluating architecture, compliance, and talent to identify acquisition targets. Managing cross-functional team of 100+ professionals. Architecting next-generation agentic data development lifecycle frameworks.

Led by someone who's actually done the work.

Lara Soave-Swinburn is an enterprise data leader with 15+ years driving transformation across regulated industries including retail, financial services, and telecommunications. She's led teams of 140+ across Fortune 100 organizations with budgets exceeding $40M.

From pioneering the data monetization platform that became Walmart's Data Ventures division ($52M P&L impact in 18 months) to leading Best Buy's entire data engineering organization through a multi-year cloud modernization delivering $6M in annual savings — Lara has consistently delivered where others have stalled.

Her career spans both sides of the Atlantic: Tesco Bank, T-Mobile, and Dixons Carphone in the UK, then ASDA, Walmart International, Best Buy, and HCL Technologies in the US. ItsAllAboutTheData was born from a simple frustration: too many companies over-promise and under-deliver. This is the antidote — a lean, AI-augmented consultancy that brings Fortune 100 execution capability to every engagement.

Data Strategy AI & ML Retail & CPG Financial Services Cloud Modernization Data Monetization Regulatory Compliance
LS

Lara Soave-Swinburn

FOUNDER & PRINCIPAL
Career
HCL Tech, Best Buy, Walmart Intl, ASDA, Dixons Carphone, Tesco Bank, T-Mobile
Scale
140+ teams, $40M+ budgets, 9 markets, 6 countries
Platforms
Azure, GCP, AWS, Databricks, Kafka, Spark, Power BI, Tableau
Based
Bentonville, AR / London, UK

Lean by design. Lethal on delivery.

01

No Juniors, No Padding

You work directly with senior people who've delivered at scale. We don't send graduates to learn on your dime.

02

AI-Augmented Operations

We practice what we preach. Our internal operations run on AI agents — keeping us lean, fast, and focused on delivery, not overhead.

03

Built to Deliver, Not to Bill

Our engagements are scoped to outcomes, not timesheets. We succeed when you succeed, and we move on when the work is done.

04

Retail & CPG DNA

We don't generalize. We go deep where we have unmatched experience — the complex, high-velocity data environments of retail and consumer goods.

Thinking out loud about data that matters.

Data Monetization

How We Started Monetization in Walmart: From Cost Center to Revenue Engine

Coming Soon
Cloud Migration

Migrating 300+ Applications to Cloud: What They Don't Tell You

Coming Soon
AI Strategy

99% Latency Reduction: Building ML Feature Stores That Actually Scale

Coming Soon

Ready to stop paying for
slideware?

No pitch deck. No discovery phase that goes nowhere. Just a straight conversation about your data challenges and whether we're the right fit.

GET IN TOUCH
lara.soave@itsallaboutthedata.co.uk