Data platform server infrastructure
03 · Capability Group

Data Platforms & Engineering — the foundation AI actually needs

AI built on unprepared data is a liability, not a competitive advantage. We build the governed, quality-controlled, AI-ready data foundations that regulated organisations need — on Microsoft Fabric, Databricks, and Snowflake, without vendor lock-in.

Challenges we solve

Where data estates block AI at every turn

Data scattered across disconnected legacy systems

Fourteen source systems. Four different definitions of "revenue." No agreed data model. This is the reality inside most regulated organisations — and it makes every AI project a false start, because every dataset needs cleaning before anything useful can be built on top of it.

PoC projects blocked by data quality, not technology

The most common reason AI pilots don't scale is not the model — it's the data feeding it. Inconsistent formats, missing fields, duplicate records, and no lineage mean even a perfect model produces unreliable outputs that the business can't trust.

Monthly reporting cycles that consume analyst capacity

Manual, spreadsheet-driven reporting that takes days to produce, contains unexplained variances, and is out of date the moment it's published — this is the cost of an ungoverned data estate. A governed, automated platform eliminates it.

No single source of truth for the business

When different teams report different numbers, nobody trusts any number. Building a unified semantic layer — agreed definitions, documented business logic, consistent KPIs — is the transformation that makes data-driven decisions possible.

AI-ready data that never gets built

Organisations plan to "clean the data before we start AI." Without a structured programme and a target architecture, this rarely happens. We build the AI-ready data foundation alongside the governance framework that keeps it clean over time.

Knowledge transfer never happens — ongoing dependency on consultants

Too many data platform projects end with a system your team can't maintain. Every engagement we run includes knowledge transfer, documentation, and training built in from day one — your team owns every system we build.

Our client impact

We've helped our clients achieve:

Strategy engagements that are fixed-scope, time-boxed, and leave you with something you can act on immediately.

14 → 1
Source systems unified into a single governed Microsoft Fabric lakehouse — from fragmented data estate to one source of truth in 16 weeks
180+
Automated data quality tests running on every pipeline refresh — preventing data quality degradation before it reaches the AI layer
100%
In-house team ownership on every platform we build — no ongoing dependency on Marzal Labs to operate or extend the system
Our approach

Our approach turns disconnected data silos into a single, AI-ready intelligence layer

Every data platform engagement begins with a full audit of your existing estate — not to find fault, but to understand what you're working with. From there, we design the architecture, build the pipelines, establish the governance, and hand over a platform your team can operate independently.

We begin every data platform engagement with a full inventory of your existing data sources, quality issues, and business definitions — not to find fault, but to understand exactly what we're working with. The audit shapes the architecture; the architecture shapes the build.

Our data platforms follow a medallion pattern: Bronze (raw ingestion), Silver (cleaned and conformed), Gold (business-ready semantic models), and Consumption (Power BI, ML endpoints). Each layer is purpose-built, documented, and testable — giving you a data estate that AI can trust.

The most transformative work in any data platform project is establishing a single source of truth for the business — agreed definitions of revenue, customer, submission, and claim that every system respects. This is the work that ends the "four different revenue numbers" problem.

Data governance fails when it's designed as policy documents nobody reads. We design governance that is tooled into the platform — automated quality rules, lineage tracking, ownership accountability, and monitoring dashboards — so it actually works at scale.

Every data platform we build is designed to be operated by your team. Full dbt project documentation, Fabric workspace runbooks, pipeline operations guides, and hands-on training are built into every engagement — not offered as an optional extra.

Strategy approach

Part of a proven technology partner network

We work across all major data and AI platforms — recommending the right tool for your data estate, your regulatory constraints, and your team's capabilities. No vendor commissions.

Explore our technology partners
Microsoft Fabric
Unified analytics platform
Databricks
Delta Lake & ML platform
Snowflake
Data cloud analytics
dbt
Transformation & testing layer
Azure Data Factory
Ingestion pipelines
Power BI
Dashboards & reporting
Featured insights

Thinking on data platforms and engineering for regulated industries

All insights →

Is your data foundation holding your AI programme back?

We'll tell you honestly — even if the answer is "fix your data first." That's usually where the real value is. Start with our AI-Ready Blueprint™ and get a clear picture in 3 weeks.