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About
Glyde Data Consulting is a one-person consultancy in Castlebellingham, County Louth, working with clients across Ireland and internationally.
Large consultancies send whoever is available. Here you get the same person on every project, from the first call to the handover - and that person has been doing this for twenty-five years.
Kevin D Hoffman is principal consultant and managing director of Glyde Data Consulting, which he founded in 2020 after fifteen years in software development, business intelligence and data engineering roles across payments, manufacturing, insurance, gaming and consultancy.
The work is data architecture, data engineering, reporting, analysis and applied AI - and, increasingly, telling people which of those they actually need. Recent engagements include combining National Treatment Payment Fund waiting lists and acute hospital data in Ireland onto a single model for a national waiting-list programme, building and then migrating a listed homebuilder's information layer from Azure Synapse to Microsoft Fabric, and leading the data and SQL workstream across three global products for a professional services firm. More on the work page.
How the work tends to go
We start with your questions - specific questions that you need to have answered. For example: How many issues were discovered in development x, and how much did it cost to fix them? Which contractor was responsible for the most cost? It is always best to begin with something that will add actual value rather than something speculative.
Next we look at the business process rather than the database. A surprising share of reporting difficulties turn out to be process problems, and identifying those is part of the job - findings get written up rather than quietly built around.
Everything built is documented. All source code and artefacts for bespoke work are handed over, written up for your teams to maintain, and designed to be configuration-driven wherever possible so the next data source is onboarded without a phone call. Where there is no report development QA or unit testing for BI deployments, we put it in - that has been a standing habit since a client in 2020, and it has saved more embarrassment than any other single practice. Strict confidentiality is maintained throughout and afterwards.
Technology
Cloud data platforms: Microsoft Fabric (Lakehouse, Warehouse, EventHouse, OneLake), Azure Synapse Analytics, Azure SQL Database, Azure Data Lake, SQL Server on-premises and managed instance, Neo4j.
Data engineering: Fabric Dataflow, PySpark, T-SQL, Azure Data Factory, SSIS, Python, Informatica.
BI and reporting: Power BI, Microsoft Fabric, SQL Server Analysis Services (multidimensional and tabular), SSRS, Cognos.
Business applications and delivery: Power Apps, Power Automate, Logic Apps, Azure DevOps, Jira, Git.
Certifications
- Microsoft Certified: Fabric Data Engineer Associate (2025)
- Microsoft Certified: Data Analyst Associate (2021)
- Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Engineer Associate (2021)
- Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Fundamentals (2021)
- Analytics Institute of Ireland - Certified Data Engineer
- IBM Certified Solutions Expert - Cognos BI
- IBM Certified Cognos Professional
- IBM Certified Administrator - Cognos 10 BI
- IBM Certified Developer - Cognos 10 Metadata Models
- IBM Certified Designer - Cognos 10 BI Reports
Professional memberships
- Analytics Institute of Ireland
- International Institute of Business Analysis
Education and continuing development
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2026
Postgraduate Credential - Architecting AI Systems Technological University Dublin
In progress.
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2024
CE Certificate - Generative AI, Cloud and Machine Learning Operations University of Oxford
Capstone: a predictive demand analysis application for a clothing chain, specified by a retail buyer.
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2023
CPD Certificate - Leveraging Big Data for Business Intelligence University of Cambridge
Multi-linear regression and deep neural networks in TensorFlow.
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2021
Diploma (Distinction) - Artificial Intelligence Dublin Business School
Regression, classification, image processing and sentiment analysis in Python.
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2021
Professional Diploma - Data Analytics and AI Analytics Institute of Ireland
Establishing an analytics function, predictive behaviour, customer analytics and ethics.
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2020
Professional Diploma (Distinction) - Digital Transformation Management University College Dublin
Digital twins, industry disruption, business remodelling and change management.
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2005
BSc (First Class Honours) - Computing Science Griffith College Dublin
Completed in four years while working full time.