Meet our Experts: Spotlight on Nathan Brache
At Vox, we value, support and actively engage people with the levels of expertise that we require to keep us moving forward as a company. In this edition of ‘Meet our Experts’, we find out more about Nathan Brache, who works in the Business Intelligence department as a BI Developer. When you meet Nathan, you are instantly exposed to his energy for his work as well as his love for his community.
Business intelligence (BI) is crucial within a large organisation because it transforms raw data into actionable insights, enabling faster decision making that’s based on evidence. This in turn helps to boost profitability and operational efficiency, because accurate data analysis helps companies to identify market trends, optimise internal processes and improve customer experience.
Nathan explains that his job as a BI developer reaches across most of the company. The BI department’s clients are internal, and include New Business, the Project Management Office, Sales, Finance, all the Product teams and the Online team, to name but a few of the departments where Vox employees rely on data models and reports that he’s developed. We take a closer look at Nathan’s journey within Vox, and how he unwinds away from work.
Reports that Unlock Data and Business Value
“My job entails developing, designing and maintaining BI and ‘PowerBI’ solutions,” he says, “including data models, dashboards and reports. In Vox terms, our BI team builds reports from data that gets captured within our primary document management system, as well as other related source systems, based on specific user requirements.”
These reports then get used to further an understanding of a particular business challenge or situation, as necessary.
“People think I just write code and the numbers appear,” Nathan says with a laugh, “but it’s actually quite a journey. The process flow to provide the final report or dashboard is an intricate one. It involves fetching the data from the source system, cleansing and warehousing it, and then building the data model, before finally building the report. This whole process is where the value lies.”
As well as the processes involved in Business Intelligence, Nathan also enjoys its challenges, and the opportunities it provides for continual learning. “Technology is ever changing,” he explains. “There’s always an evolution. In addition, systems are imperfect, and that’s my biggest headache, namely system‑related issues that delay fresh data and block users from getting up‑to‑date information.
“If database connectivity to the source system breaks, time schedule dependent, it affects everything downstream. It’s a pain, but it’s part of the job. At the same time, I love learning new solutions and applying them. That sense of achievement when I master something new is enormous!”
It’s a long way from his early days when he joined Orion Telecom (later to be incorporated into Vox) in May 2005, which means that Nathan has since celebrated 20 years with the company. At the time, he had no idea that he’d still be at Vox, based in the Cape Town office, more than two decades later. Today he’s quietly responsible for the data models, reports and dashboards that many Vox colleagues rely on every day.
A Practical, Proactive Path into BI
Nathan’s route into BI didn’t happen straight away. After school he had some short-term positions, which included packing groceries at Shoprite, a sales job at Nike and a front-desk position for Speed Services Couriers.
A job opening at Orion in 2005 gave him his first foothold within Vox. He started in Registrations and moved into System Support, where his exposure to applications and databases eventually helped him to move into Business Intelligence.
“In Systems Support I got exposure to database‑related processes,” he explains. “I did a few related courses, some online research and even today I continue to upskill. The exposure was the launch pad for this!”
When the Business Intelligence team needed a Junior Report Developer in 2016, Nathan was a natural fit. He joined the team as a junior, was promoted to BI Developer after a few years, and has been building, maintaining and evolving BI solutions for Vox’s internal teams ever since. In May 2026 he’ll mark 21 years with the organisation: an achievement he modestly describes as ‘fortunate’.
Nathan builds both Excel reporting solutions and Power BI dashboards, and he treats his internal users like external customers. “If you’re happy, I’m happy!” he says. “That’s basically my motto. Besides building reports, we help people – that’s what our role is in Business Intelligence.”
This client‑first attitude shows in the way he builds and configures reports as specific tools for the people who need them. He describes a BI workflow as follows:
- Source systems: “We fetch the data from our source systems.”
- Cleanse: “We detect and correct inaccurate, incomplete, improperly formatted or duplicate data within the dataset.”
- Warehouse: “We prepare and store data efficiently for ease of retrieval and optimal report interaction.”
- Data model: “We design the model with the exact columns, calculations and measures that the users need.”
- Reporting: “We build the report or dashboard in Excel, Power BI and Reporting Services environments, applying automated refreshing schedules where applicable.”
Life’s Memorable Moments
Both at work and outside it, Nathan is invested in making sure that his life, and that of his family’s, remains grounded and balanced, with key memories to show at the end of the day. He particularly enjoyed a work incentive trip in November 2011, as a personal work highlight, when he took part in river rafting on the Zambezi: “That was one of my favourite memories!”
He’s also been recognised within the business for his contributions and was a previous ‘Voscars’ winner (the company’s internal awards system). This, together with his Zambezi trip, represents a work milestone of which he’s very proud.
Away from work, Nathan is deeply rooted in his community. He grew up in Lansdowne, in the southern suburbs of Cape Town and still lives there with his wife Lauren and their two daughters, Kylie (13 years old) and Scarlett (six years old). He clarifies: “Despite many negative influences faced growing up in Cape Town’s Southern Suburbs, I am blessed to say that I was able to overcome and learn from each of them! I grew up in a Christian home with discipline and good values – this support undoubtedly aided in guiding me through difficult times that I sometimes faced.”
Today, Nathan gives back to his community by using sport to help young boys learn to overcome challenges. He is the vice‑chairman of a local football club that helps young boys from disadvantaged backgrounds. He clarifies: “The work goes far beyond coaching: it involves fundraising, mentorship and managing issues that many of the young players bring with them from home.
“It’s almost a parental role – I’m not only teaching football, but am also required to deal with poverty, some aggression, and sometimes a lack of parental support. But I aim to have empathy and understanding with these young players, and I try to play my part in giving them something of value in their lives. I’m just happy to be able to help in some way.”
The club runs teams from under‑8s through to under‑18s, as well as two senior teams. Nathan sees successes when boys stay with the club through the critical under‑16 and under‑18 years and even make it as far as local teams sometimes, but he’s candid that dropout rates are high. “You see kids drop off for lots of reasons,” he says, “including being distracted by other pressures. But when one of them stays and grows, that’s a win.”
At home he’s an avid gym‑goer, training five to six times a week, and he also plays football, where he is also part of the management of the over-35s team that he plays for. In addition, he also does the cooking in the family (his wife says she is totally on board with this!), focusing on healthier meal options due to health-related challenges that manifested quite suddenly.
“I am also taking pains to keep my family healthy,” he adds, “and I encourage my daughters to build sports and activity into their lives, to balance out their academics. I just want to empower them towards being healthy and happy and able to make good decisions later in life.”
People Plus Data Equals BI
Nathan Brache’s story is a reminder that business intelligence is as much about people as it is about data. His path from temporary jobs to a 21‑year (to date!) career at Vox was built on curiosity, practical learning and a willingness to help others.
“I am grateful to leaders such as Tim Wood and Louis van Schalkwyk for mentoring me and creating a work environment that I enjoy being part of,” he says. “I have a fantastic management structure – I learn from them every day in some way or another – and I also work with awesome colleagues. You spend a large part of your life at work, and a combination of great leadership and colleagues makes all the difference.”
Nathan is excited about the next frontier for BI at Vox. “We’re moving towards AI,” he says, “and I’d like to combine our existing solutions with new AI technology. I hope to remain at Vox for as long as I can. Having been with Vox for over 20 years, my blood is ‘Vox green’ – I love the people, I love the business.
“In ending I just want to say a heartfelt thank you to my family and every leader and colleague who has been a part of my Vox journey thus far – here’s to many more beautiful years to come, God willing! This is my space!”
