My passion is data analysis. It’s an exciting profession!
And this is my story…
My name is Mirek Černý.
I was born on New Year’s Eve.
I graduated from the Faculty of Economics at the Technical University in Ostrava and started working as a consultant on data projects in retail. I started to gain valuable experience at Tesco, Ahold and other big supply chain players.
Soon I discovered the Business Intelligence (BI) industry, which completely captivated me. I was fascinated by the possibility of exploring companies as wholes through their data. I also gained a love for this field thanks to the friendliness of my colleagues at Dataware (part of the Adastra Group), who did not “throw me into the water” but helped me understand things patiently and clearly.
In practice, I started with BI “lightly” at first – by maintaining and developing a data warehouse at a water supplier to many Ostrava households and companies. It did not take long and I successfully built my first data warehouse “on a green field” for a major Czech pharmaceutical distributor. When it turned out that I was good at “smaller” things, the heavier caliber came next – DHL and two medium complex data warehouses in two countries.
And then came the world moment. Data warehouse, reporting and related stuff for Deutsche Post in Basel, Switzerland. It was originally supposed to be a small project for 5-6 weeks. But when the client saw how well it was going in one area, they expanded the project and I worked on it for over a year.
Next came a longer project for a large bank in Vienna and its branch in Prague.
The data warehouse and profitability analysis for a Slovakian financial company in the Tatras mountains was more of a rest for me after such travelling back and forth across half of Europe.
As I was expecting the birth of our daughter, I decided to work in the Czech Republic for a while. I became the MIS and data warehouse manager at Kofola.
Then I longed to see the world again. I went “next door” to Tieto. I learned the intricacies of the Telco sector and how things work in the pulp and paper industry. The unforgettable natural beauty but also the opportunity to get to know the personality of the people in Finland, Sweden and Norway gave me a lot. I really enjoyed BI for big companies in a big way.
I focused on data mining, statistics, machine learning and predictive analytics in BI.
As a side project, I made a model and tool to predict diabetes risk and how much weight a person should lose to cut it about in half. I called it DiaRisk.
I became entrepreneurial. We used to play the Cashflow game once a month in the tea room with similarly minded people. It may seem like a small thing to you, but I started to build my circle and network of people through this, which later paid off handsomely.
Although my original college endeavors selling computers and accessories had long since been overtaken by companies like Alza by that time, and I was no longer interested in hardware, I was eager to succeed in the field of intangible creations.
As one of the projects for a large Finnish mobile phone manufacturer – my dream Data Mining came along. This was at a time when AI was still an almost unknown concept. However, in my mind, and in the minds of those who were close to the project, it had already caused quite a revolution.
I didn’t want to do just regular reporting anymore. I wanted to develop in advanced data analysis.
So I quit my job and made my employer my first client. I became a freelance consultant.
With colleagues, I prototyped a data product and co-founded Futurelytics. It was about segmenting customers according to their behavior. It helped “open the eyes” and save costs for several companies.
We were a startup, we got investments, but it ended up like most startups – on lack of funding.
My family and I moved to Prague, since I started working for Goodbaby as Head of Insights. Goodbaby is an international group that includes the brands Cybex, Evenflo, GB and others.
At Goodbaby I created and led a team of data specialists and scientists. We turned data into major contributions in Europe, the US and Asia. Again, I put my heart into it.
When the decision was made to close our department, I didn’t want my team to end completely. We started Insightee.
We created several data solutions and products, mostly for UK clients.
We then created our own method and service to increase customer retention and revenue in B2B sales. It processes companies’ sales data and gives in-depth insights and smart recommendations to salespeople.
I stay committed to Insightee. As a consultant, I also advise and help with data, BI, predictive and advanced analytics.
It is a great support for me to have not only a family but also a personal coach and friends in my men circle.
I also pass on my experience through hands-on workshops.
Insightee is becoming my second startup. More soon.
Čeština 
