Susan Walsh - The Classification Guru

Fixer of dirty data ★ Spend data classification, supplier normalisation, and taxonomies ★ DataIQ100 x 2 ★DataIQ Data Champion 2022★ Author "Between the Spreadsheets" ★ Creator of COAT ★ TEDx - say NO to NO ★ DataVenger

I’m Susan Walsh, also known as The Classification Guru, a globally recognised expert in spend data classification, cleaning, and transformation. For over a decade, I’ve helped organisations fix dirty, unreliable data and turn it into insight they can actually trust.

In 2017, I founded The Classification Guru Ltd, rebuilding my career from the ground up after coming back from bankruptcy after my first business failed. What started as a solo consultancy has grown into a specialist business supporting 100+ organisations globally, particularly in procurement, sales, and marketing, where clean data underpins reporting, automation, and AI.

I work with mid-sized and enterprise organisations, consultancies, and technology providers that rely on complex, high-volume data but struggle with inconsistency, duplication, and poor structure. My clients include procurement, finance, sales, and marketing teams who need data they can stand behind, whether that’s for spend analysis, supplier management, CRM reporting, forecasting, compliance, or AI initiatives.

Keeping a business alive and growing for almost nine years hasn’t been about shortcuts or hype. It’s been built through real-world delivery, practical problem-solving, and a refusal to accept “good enough” data as acceptable. Along the way, I’ve developed frameworks and tools to help organisations embed sustainable data quality, including the COAT framework (Consistent, Organised, Accurate, Trustworthy) and Samification, a self-service supplier normalisation platform launched in 2024 to make clean, structured data accessible at scale.

I’m also an active contributor to the wider data and business community. I’m a TEDx speaker, international conference speaker, and recognised thought leader in data quality and classification. I’ve authored three books, including Between the Spreadsheets 1st and 2nd editions, and the upcoming Optimizing Sales and Marketing. I teach globally via platforms such as Pluralsight, O’Reilly, and the Analytics Institute. Through consistent, practical thought leadership, I’ve grown an engaged LinkedIn audience of 43,000+ professionals.

Alongside my commercial work, I founded the Women Who Speak LinkedIn group, a free initiative connecting women speakers with event organisers to improve visibility and representation. I hope my journey shows that you don’t have to fit a mould to build a credible business, lead in your field, or create meaningful impact.

My mission is simple: help organisations move from spreadsheet chaos to clean, organised, trustworthy data that actually works.

Founder/MD (Mistress of Data)

I love improving the quality of procurement spend data, giving teams clarity so they can make better business decisions and cost savings.

Why not let me take the pain out of laborious data issues and make your life easier?

Whether it's a small or large data set, the accuracy can be improved by identifying classification errors, conflicts or gaps. I can provide a data verification service to efficiently find and correct these in a fraction of the time it would take you or a team member.

And a crucial part of having accurate data is also working with a comprehensive taxonomy, something that can be easily overlooked. I can provide a taxonomy development service to ensure you have all the vital areas covered for the greatest visibility - job done!

If you struggle with the time, resources or willingness to tackle your data, why not get in touch to see how I can make your life easier.

Who does quiet, easing back into work in January? Not me!

Just had a wonderful evening up in London meeting Adita Karkera, Ph.D. and lots of fabulous ladies from Women In Data™️

Gonna need a lie in tomorrow now 🤣🤣

Thanks Shubhangi Goyal for organising and Samir Sharma for being an honorary woman in data! 

The Classification Guru Ltd Samification

Susan Walsh

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When you work for yourself there’s very few h&s measures in place, like a warm workplace.

I woke up to -4 outside and not much different inside, even with the heating on, so whoever gets on call with me today will find me like this. #sorrynotsorry

The Classification Guru Ltd Samification

I asked ChatGPT one question: "Based on our interactions, how could I be leveraging you more?"

Because I want to work smarter, not harder this year.

And the answer wasn't, “write more posts faster," it was slightly unexpected - AI works best before things are polished, not after.

Which basically means that even with AI, I'm still a control freak, not delegating until the last minute, so that's something I'll be working on this year.

Here’s the recommendations I'll be taking forward:

 • Using it as a thinking partner, not just a writing tool
 • Pressure-testing ideas before they’re fully formed
 • Acting as an editor with opinions, not just a spellchecker
 • Repurposing one solid idea into multiple formats
 • Being a built-in “so what?” detector
 • Exploring bolder positioning without committing to it publicly
 • Preparing for talks, panels, and conversations earlier, not at the last minute

The biggest shift for me? Bringing AI in when things are messy, not when they’re “ready”. Drafts, fragments, half-formed opinions… that’s where the real leverage is.

So tell me, where in your workflow could AI take more of the heavy lifting, so you stay in your zone of genius? 

Why not try this prompt or a variation and let me know!

The Classification Guru Ltd Samification

Have you met the Dirty Data Villains?

Every dataset has them.
Some are obvious. Some hide in plain sight.
Together, they’re responsible for broken reports, failed joins, messy dashboards, and far too many “why doesn’t this match?” moments.

Here’s the current Dirty Data Villains lineup 👇

🟡 Rogue Punctuation
Commas, apostrophes, periods, and symbols turning up where they don’t belong. Breaking imports, splitting values, and causing errors that are frustratingly hard to spot.

⬜ Sneaky Spaces
Invisible troublemakers lurking at the beginning or end of values. The reason your “exact matches” aren’t exact and your duplicates refuse to reveal themselves.

👯 Duplicate Dan
The master of cloning. Same customer, same supplier, same invoice… entered twice (or more), often with just enough variation to avoid detection.

🔤 Typo Tracey
One wrong letter is all she needs. Misspellings, swapped characters, missing letters — causing failed lookups, bounced emails, and embarrassing mistakes.

📅 Format Fred
The chaos king of inconsistency. Dates, phone numbers, and text fields all formatted differently across systems, making automation and reporting painful.

💥 Why they matter
These villains don’t just make data messy; they undermine trust. And without trust, data can’t be relied on for decisions, insights, or AI.

The good news?
Once you can name them, you can spot them.
And once you can spot them, you can clean them.

More villains may be lurking… but for now, this is your most wanted list.  And if you need some help identifying them, ask me about our new data diagnostic service, more details coming soon!

Which Dirty Data Villain causes you the most pain?  And who would you add?

📘 Two books
📉 Big discounts
📊 Cleaner, calmer, more trustworthy data

Get more Susan for less!

🟣 Between the Spreadsheets from Facet Publishing – 20% off using NEW20
🔴 Optimizing Sales & Marketing Data from Kogan Page Publishing – 40% off with SALE40

What you’ll actually learn:

💡How to spot dirty data before it wrecks reporting
💡Practical ways to fix duplicates, inconsistencies, and naming chaos
💡Why “the tech will fix it” usually doesn’t
💡How to build data you can trust for decisions, automation, and AI
💡Real-world lessons from projects, not fluffy theory

If you’re wrestling with messy data, unreliable dashboards, or a CRM that feels held together with hope and pivot tables, these will save you time, frustration, and a few awkward meetings.

Built on real client work. Powered by the COAT framework. Zero nonsense.

Grab them while the discounts are live!

Shoutout to some fellow authors Jordan Morrow Tiankai Feng Nicola Askham Caroline Carruthers Kristen Kehrer Roberto Maranca Albert Bellamy Keith McCabe (MCIPS) Samir Sharma Dr. Joe Perez

The Classification Guru Ltd Samification

DevSmart

•	Multicloud and DevOps Bootcamp
•       AWS Practitioner Essentials
•	AWS Security Fundamentals
•	Big Data Complete Course
•	Data Governance
•	Predictive Analytics with Excel
•	DBA Dissertation ln Mobile Social Media Marketing for Small Business
•	Certified Analytics Professional training
•	AWS,Azure, and Google Cloud training
•	Google Data Analytics course	
•	Digital Transformation with NLP
•	Citizen Development Foundation Certification - No-Code, Low-Code (LCNC)
•	IBM Design Thinking Certification
•	Scrum Product Owner Certification
•	SAFe Scrum Master Certification
•	Data Governance Management training
•	Completed doctoral courses and am currently writing my dissertation

Founder

Created data for vendor scorecard creating a $300M profit for AholdDelhaize
Managed Data projects with Datadog, Databricks and Azure SQL
Plan and integrate the daily activities of 4 scrum teams teams, allocating resources within defined budgets.
Coordinate the plans and activities of the organization with senior leaders inside and outside IT.
Apply technical and process expertise to address challenging technical and business issues.
Develop rock-solid, scalable systems that will still hold up years from now.
Quickly learn new technologies and evaluate multiple technologies to solve problems.
Manage data migration from mainframe to data lake utilizing Databricks, Python, and SQL.
Creatively administer Jira in the cloud for multiple Scrum teams migrating data for the Center of Excellence.
A deep passion for providing servant leadership at scale to empower multi-functional teams.

Data Analytics Project Manager/Scrum Master

	Create a data dictionary and data governance guidelines for new software being created with the data team.
	Closely follow risk mitigation and reporting guidelines for executive management.
	Manage two agile teams of 25 resources for a SAFe release train of 12 teams successfully.
	Led the team in developing a single enterprise submission software replacing over 20 disparaging systems.
	Develop and maintain a solid partnership with key project and business stakeholders and work collaboratively towards a common goal.
     Improved team velocities from 35 to 80 in 8 weeks

SAFe Scrum Master

Modis at Lincoln Financial

	Developed and maintained a solid partnership with key project and business stakeholders and work collaboratively towards a common goal.
	Perform Agile Maturity assessments for the team, providing coaching and input to reach higher levels of maturity and continuous improvement.
	Led developers, BA, and QA contractors to migrate Liberty Mutual telephony via Genesys WDE and microservices to meet TSA Exit date utilizing continuous integration and DevOps with microservices and GitHub saving millions in penalties.
	Assessed team maturity and implementing concepts to bring to a high-performing mature team.
	Continuously challenged the ways of working with the team to become more mature and self-managed.

Iris Software at Citi

	Managed the Agile software development team creating a web-based replacement for a 15-year-old forecasting system.
	Worked closely with developers to ensure they are not blocked and can execute the process administered by the Scrum Master.
	Collaborated with other project and program managers for infrastructure, network, and data analysis.

	Coached both onshore and offshore teams to deliver value to the business through a new application.
	With the assistance of Agile Coach, provide proactive coaching to the team and recommend improvements.

Scrum Master / Agile Project Manager

Matlen Silver at Bank of America

	Managed and delivered high-quality projects and reporting to senior executives.
	Managed Scrum/Agile ceremonies for Retail and Commercial Credit Risk teams utilizing Kanban.
	Managed Commercial and Consumer Credit Risk projects by utilizing Jira and JQL.
	Managed the first credit risk robotics automation Scrum team for the bank utilizing robotics.

Prodapt at Windstream

	Managed 22 application team Scrum Masters in Scrum of Scrums from Enterprise COMMs Model implementation to complete project four months early, realizing improved customer service and reduced costs.
	Ran Daily Standups, Scrum of Scrums, Sprint Planning, and Sprint Review ceremonies, including Kanban.
	Supported development teams in executing of Sprints to successful completion.
	Supported teams in the execution of sprints resulting in successful story completion and a 70% increase in velocity.

Sr Scrum Master / Sr Agile Project Manager

Collabera at TIAA

	Managed EverBank acquisition, coordinating Cybersecurity, and Infrastructure activities.
	Supervised deep-dive comparison with ten service areas between EverBank and TIAA.
	Implemented two new processes involved with M&A activities at TIAA.

Cyber Security Project Manager

Signature Consultants at Bank of America

•	Managed 4 Verizon consultants bringing project back to green status; first time in five months.
•	Coordinated internal bank resources for PCI Audit compliance, eliminating two penalty areas.
•	Implemented 4 new processes eliminating 40-50 hours of rework and unnecessary meetings.
•	Interviewed 20 bank resources and designed SharePoint workflow increasing efficiencies.

Cyber Security Specialist

DISYS at TIAA

•	Retirement domain experience with 401K, IRA and 529
•      Brought 8 unassigned projects back from failure status to successful completion.
•	Directed four teams, 18 developers/QA onshore and offshore from the proposal, through design and implementation for three years with 0% turnover.
•	Facilitated iterative fast-paced application development projects with budgets of $4-10M.
•	Web applications contributed to TIAA’s site winning the Dalbar award all three years.

Sr Technical Project Manager | Scrum Master

Data Strategist | Data Analytics | Data Enablement | Strategic Thinker

With over 30 years of experience in managing complex IT solutions, I am a seasoned Data Analytics Project Manager and Scrum Master at CRG, a leading provider of IT services and solutions. I have a proven track record of delivering data-driven value for clients across various domains and industries, such as AholdDelhaize, AIG, Lincoln Financial, Citi, and Bank of America. I hold PMP and ITIL certifications, as well as multiple credentials in data analytics, cloud computing, NLP, and LCNC.

My mission is to lead data projects with excellence, creativity, and agility, leveraging cutting-edge technologies and methodologies, such as Datadog, Databricks, Azure SQL, Python, Jira, SAFe, and Scrum. I am passionate about empowering and enabling my teams to explore, solve, decide, and create, while fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and learning. I am also committed to advancing my knowledge and skills in the field of data analytics, as I am currently pursuing a DBA degree with a focus on data ethics.

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