05 Dec 2024
Here at Arrive, our teams consist of a variety of talented individuals across all departments, supporting and growing all different aspects of our organization. We sat down with David Spencer, Director of Business Intelligence, to learn more about his role, how he got started at Arrive and why he loves being part of the team!
How did you learn about Arrive and start working here?
I was randomly seated across from Matt Pyatt at a dinner with others in the industry in early 2017. Arrive was still fairly small and unknown, but it didn’t take long for me to recognize how much potential the company had. I was impressed and made a point to keep in touch with Matt. A few months later, I was in my role here at Arrive.
What does your daily routine look like?
First things first, some tea or coffee to get the day started. We just moved to the Austin area, so I like to get myself moving with a walk around the neighborhood with my wife before heading into the office. After work, I like to settle in and get ready for the next day. I like to cook so I usually decompress a bit while whipping something up for dinner. Then it is time to wind down and relax while catching up on shows or watching whatever sports are on TV.
What does an average day in your role look like?
One of the best parts about my role is that there really is no average day. As the problems we face as a business change, so do the problems I am trying to solve. In general, I do spend a lot of time looking at data to better understand and predict what will happen in the freight markets. SONAR and DAT are two of my most frequently visited websites.
What is your biggest priority or goal as Director of Business Intelligence?
My biggest priority is identifying trends in data! This means I am constantly looking into data around our operations and trying to identify areas of inefficiency or trying to find areas of opportunity for us to improve as a business. Ultimately, with so much growth ahead of us, it is important to understand where we need to prioritize our efforts for technology development, or for process improvement. We cannot take it all on at once. I am always looking for trends in market conditions. Changing market conditions mean we need to change our strategies as a business. It is my job to help identify these trends and push for changes in our approach to optimize our growth and profitability.
How has your role at Arrive evolved?
My role has changed quite a bit over my time here at Arrive. Although I no longer lead these teams, I have helped stand up our BI (DSG), Pricing and Data Science teams. My expertise is how we use data as a business in any shape or form. This has carried through into my current role, which is focused on identifying trends in our business.
What is your favorite part of your role?
My favorite part of my role is that I am always learning. There is a never-ending supply of questions that we don’t have the answers to and I get to work on solving those problems.
What keeps you at Arrive?
What keeps me at Arrive is the incredible collection of talent we have in this business and how consistent we are successful in what we set out to do. It really feels like we have an all-star lineup across all departments. I love the way that we all push each other to be better and to continue to grow as a company and as individuals. We have the best team in the game that knows what it takes to stay on top.
