Meet the Kalibrate team: Suzanne Beltran, Director of Analytics

At Kalibrate, we believe our success is driven as much by our people as our technology. So, as part of our meet the team series, we’re showcasing some of the talent and expertise within the Kalibrate family. This installment features our Director of Analytics, Suzanne Beltran. 

What is your role at Kalibrate? 

I am the Director of Analytics and I manage all our analytics team members within the professional service group. I oversee the analytics we produce for real estate site selection, fuel network planning and any EV initiatives.  

I will help answer any technical analytical questions that our clients, client managers, or others ask. I also help scope out the best approach for new projects and help push our analytical capabilities further. Ultimately, we’re here to help our customers make smarter decisions and we have a great team focused on doing exactly that.  

What does a typical day look like? 

There is no typical day in what I do, which makes it more interesting. In general, I make myself available for any questions my team has when working on client work. I work on new initiatives to help push our products forward – that could be new data evaluations, machine learning analytics, and reporting integrations into our platforms. 

What do you love about your role? 

It follows on from the typical day point really – the variety! What I love most is that every day, every task is different. Each client is unique; two similar clients can be asking very different questions and we will tailor the work to their needs. 

I also just love working with data in general and seeing where the data can lead. We are in such a data-driven time that being able to get raw data and interpret it into useful insight is fascinating.

At Kalibrate, we’re on the forefront of using data and analytics, and our customers are some of the world’s most innovative brands – it’s exciting to be a part of their success.  

Why did you join Kalibrate? 

When I was looking for a job out of grad school, I knew what I wanted to do and that Intalytics was the exact company. Little did I know it would have an amazing work culture with some of the best people to work with. Everybody here has the same passion and desire to push our analytics and the company forward. From top to bottom everyone puts in 100% of work and passion into their jobs. When Intalytics was acquired by Kalibrate, we’ve continued in that spirit, but we work with more brands, in different countries – a lot more globally too.  

What do you think are the greatest challenges and opportunities in the retail and restaurant sectors? 

I think right now the biggest challenge is how much of the post-COVD sales trends are here to stay and how many things are just a blip in the road. Real estate is a long-term investment and making the wrong decisions based on things that could be going away can be a hinderance into future profits and revenue. 

What do you see the restaurant and retail sectors heading? 

I think there are a couple of different directions as it relates to both the physical building prototype moving forward and the various sales avenues a company wants to expand into. 

When it comes to new builds and new prototypes, post-COVID you are seeing a lot more QSR companies investigate drive-thru only locations instead of the traditional dine-in with drive-thru. It can help with their real estate building cost, and they can limit the number of employees needed per store. 

As it relates to sales channels, a lot of restaurants appear to be partnering with or starting their own delivery-based channel and really pushing into that market. In-store pick-up/same day pick-up is also becoming more of a common feature for retail. But overall, there is still a desire to go into a store or a restaurant and get the product yourself without the need for delivery, curbside pick-up, etc. It’s more of an expanded sales channel in avenues that the industry is chasing.