Business Intelligence Companies & Consultants in Overland Park, KS

Playfair Data is a visual analytics consultancy based in Overland Park, Kansas. It helps organizations that already collect large amounts of data turn that information into something their teams can understand and use. Its clients range from nonprofits to Fortune 500 enterprises.

The firm's main argument is that the return on a BI investment comes from people adopting the reports, not from the reports simply existing. So its work aims at analytics that staff trust and open every day, under the firm's trademarked idea of making data Decision-Ready.

Consulting Services

The consulting practice blends design, data science and business strategy, and it covers four areas:

• Strategy: analytics tied to business goals, subject matter knowledge and measurable results, often delivered as a roadmap that ranks the best opportunities
• Data preparation: collecting, cleansing and automating data from source systems, including work to get data ready for AI
• Design: interfaces and user experiences that connect decision makers with the numbers, plus brand guidelines and design systems for scaling insight
• Analytics engineering: custom dashboards, which the firm calls decision consoles, built in Power BI, Oracle Analytics Cloud and Tableau

Other offerings include pilot projects for testing an idea before a larger rollout, augmentation of in-house analytics teams, and AI applied to analytics and data visualization. The team's toolset covers Tableau Desktop, Prep and Server, as well as Alteryx, Snowflake, Figma and Adobe's creative applications. New clients can start with a free strategy call or an eight-question survey that points to a sensible first step.

How Engagements Are Staffed

Each visual analytics project is assigned at least four people: a strategist, a data engineer, a dashboard architect and a dashboard engineer. The published team is led by founder and principal Ryan Sleeper. It includes senior directors over operations and enterprise intelligence, plus specialists in information design, data engineering, decision science, decision intelligence and brand strategy. The firm says its consultants are approachable and able to turn stakeholder problems into practical solutions.

Training and Playfair+

For companies that want to build skills in-house, Playfair Data runs Playfair+, a membership-based learning platform with Free, Core, Premium and Enterprise tiers. Members get on-demand courses in Tableau, Power BI and Alteryx, a downloadable data visualization catalog, and dashboard templates for project management and financial analysis. Digital credentials cover four disciplines: strategy, data prep, design and engineering.

The company says members or consulting clients work at 76 of the 2026 Fortune 100. It also offers live public workshops on decision-ready data, Tableau at flagship and advanced levels, Power BI, and design thinking with Figma, along with private training events.

Industries and Credentials

The firm lists specialties in several sectors:

• Life sciences and healthcare
• Manufacturing and consumer packaged goods
• Sports and entertainment
• Nonprofits, NGOs and 501(c)(3) organizations
• Higher education
• Financial planning and analysis

The team has also written four books on Tableau: Practical Tableau, Innovative Tableau, Statistical Tableau and a Tableau Pocket Reference. Buyers who want one partner for BI consulting and ongoing staff training may find this mix of services and teaching material useful.