About
Why I Started Crawford McMillan
Why I Started Crawford McMillan
Written by
Graeme Crawford
4 min read
4 min read
4 min read
Why I left my role managing billions in data systems at Fortune 100 businesses to help growing businesses.
Why I left my role managing billions in data systems at Fortune 100 businesses to help growing businesses.
Why I left my role managing billions in data systems at Fortune 100 businesses to help growing businesses.
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In this post:
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Why I left my role managing billions in data systems at Fortune 100 businesses
Today, I want to share why I left my role managing billions in data systems at Fortune 100 businesses to help growing businesses.
It starts in 2012.
I was building Capital One's Big Data Lab in the UK. Our mission was ambitious: track and analyze unprecedented levels of customer interaction data to drive growth.
We succeeded. The systems we built helped Capital One make precise, data-driven decisions worth billions.
But I noticed something troubling happening outside the enterprise world.
While big companies were building increasingly sophisticated data systems, growing businesses were being left behind. The gap between enterprise capabilities and basic analytics was widening every year.
Then in 2019, I saw the future clearly.
I was leading a team building a first-of-its-kind real-time analytics platform at Capital One. We were enabling AI use cases that simply weren't possible with standard enterprise tools.
That's when it hit me:
If growing businesses were struggling with basic data visibility now, they would be completely blind in an AI-driven future.
The problem wasn't just unfair - it was fixable.
After 20 years building data systems for Fortune 100 companies, I knew:
The core principles that make enterprise data systems powerful
How to implement them without enterprise complexity
Where most businesses go wrong with data
What actually drives clear decision-making
In 2021, after successfully leading Capital One's 3-year transformation to manage the company's external reputation with data rather than instincts, I made my decision.
I founded Crawford McMillan with a clear mission: give growing businesses the same data intelligence capabilities that helped Fortune 100 companies drive billions in growth, at a fraction of the cost.
This isn't just about building better dashboards.
It's about leveling the playing field.
It's about giving growing businesses the clarity they need to compete and win.
This is why we offer our Data Intelligence Audit - to show businesses exactly what they're missing and what it's costing them.
If you'd like to see what enterprise-grade data intelligence could do for your business, let's talk.
Book a Data Intelligence Audit call here.
Graeme
Why I left my role managing billions in data systems at Fortune 100 businesses
Today, I want to share why I left my role managing billions in data systems at Fortune 100 businesses to help growing businesses.
It starts in 2012.
I was building Capital One's Big Data Lab in the UK. Our mission was ambitious: track and analyze unprecedented levels of customer interaction data to drive growth.
We succeeded. The systems we built helped Capital One make precise, data-driven decisions worth billions.
But I noticed something troubling happening outside the enterprise world.
While big companies were building increasingly sophisticated data systems, growing businesses were being left behind. The gap between enterprise capabilities and basic analytics was widening every year.
Then in 2019, I saw the future clearly.
I was leading a team building a first-of-its-kind real-time analytics platform at Capital One. We were enabling AI use cases that simply weren't possible with standard enterprise tools.
That's when it hit me:
If growing businesses were struggling with basic data visibility now, they would be completely blind in an AI-driven future.
The problem wasn't just unfair - it was fixable.
After 20 years building data systems for Fortune 100 companies, I knew:
The core principles that make enterprise data systems powerful
How to implement them without enterprise complexity
Where most businesses go wrong with data
What actually drives clear decision-making
In 2021, after successfully leading Capital One's 3-year transformation to manage the company's external reputation with data rather than instincts, I made my decision.
I founded Crawford McMillan with a clear mission: give growing businesses the same data intelligence capabilities that helped Fortune 100 companies drive billions in growth, at a fraction of the cost.
This isn't just about building better dashboards.
It's about leveling the playing field.
It's about giving growing businesses the clarity they need to compete and win.
This is why we offer our Data Intelligence Audit - to show businesses exactly what they're missing and what it's costing them.
If you'd like to see what enterprise-grade data intelligence could do for your business, let's talk.
Book a Data Intelligence Audit call here.
Graeme
Why I left my role managing billions in data systems at Fortune 100 businesses
Today, I want to share why I left my role managing billions in data systems at Fortune 100 businesses to help growing businesses.
It starts in 2012.
I was building Capital One's Big Data Lab in the UK. Our mission was ambitious: track and analyze unprecedented levels of customer interaction data to drive growth.
We succeeded. The systems we built helped Capital One make precise, data-driven decisions worth billions.
But I noticed something troubling happening outside the enterprise world.
While big companies were building increasingly sophisticated data systems, growing businesses were being left behind. The gap between enterprise capabilities and basic analytics was widening every year.
Then in 2019, I saw the future clearly.
I was leading a team building a first-of-its-kind real-time analytics platform at Capital One. We were enabling AI use cases that simply weren't possible with standard enterprise tools.
That's when it hit me:
If growing businesses were struggling with basic data visibility now, they would be completely blind in an AI-driven future.
The problem wasn't just unfair - it was fixable.
After 20 years building data systems for Fortune 100 companies, I knew:
The core principles that make enterprise data systems powerful
How to implement them without enterprise complexity
Where most businesses go wrong with data
What actually drives clear decision-making
In 2021, after successfully leading Capital One's 3-year transformation to manage the company's external reputation with data rather than instincts, I made my decision.
I founded Crawford McMillan with a clear mission: give growing businesses the same data intelligence capabilities that helped Fortune 100 companies drive billions in growth, at a fraction of the cost.
This isn't just about building better dashboards.
It's about leveling the playing field.
It's about giving growing businesses the clarity they need to compete and win.
This is why we offer our Data Intelligence Audit - to show businesses exactly what they're missing and what it's costing them.
If you'd like to see what enterprise-grade data intelligence could do for your business, let's talk.
Book a Data Intelligence Audit call here.
Graeme
Still reading? Book a call to grow your business into uncharted territory!
If you want to achieve ground-breaking growth with Enterprise-grade business intelligence as a key part of your success, then you're in the right place.
Still reading? Book a call to grow your business into uncharted territory!
If you want to achieve ground-breaking growth with Enterprise-grade business intelligence as a key part of your success, then you're in the right place.
Still reading? Book a call to grow your business into uncharted territory!
If you want to achieve ground-breaking growth with Enterprise-grade business intelligence as a key part of your success, then you're in the right place.