How Data Can Make Your Coffee Business More Resilient (Oscar Montoya) | EP1700 Part 5 of 5 | Map It Forward
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Episode Description
This is part 5 of a new 5-part series on The Daily Coffee Pro Podcast by Map It Forward, hosted by Lee Safar.
Our guest on the podcast for this series is Oscar Montoya, a data scientist, software developer, coffee producer in Colombia, founder of Cafe Chicao in Canada, and the developer (from Dark Mode) who helped Map It Forward build CoffeeListings.com.
In this final episode, Lee and Oscar explore the role that data, technology, and processes can play in building more sustainable and resilient coffee businesses.
Oscar introduces the concept of a digital twin — a data-based representation of a real system that can help businesses understand how different parts of an operation interact over time.
In coffee, that idea can be applied across a farm, a supply chain, or even the lifecycle of a coffee itself, creating a more complete picture of where coffee comes from, where it goes, and what happens along the way.
The conversation explores how traceability brings together people, processes, technology, and data, and why that can help businesses make more informed decisions.
Lee and Oscar also use the Benecke situation as an example of how better data, modeling, and risk assessment could potentially help businesses understand exposure before committing to major supply chain decisions.
Oscar explains that if something matters to your business, it should be measured. Once a risk is identified, a business can decide whether to accept it, mitigate it, or reject it.
They also discuss the role of simulations, the importance of understanding uncertainty, and why no model should ever be treated as absolute truth.
The episode then turns to the changing cost of technology and how AI is reducing the time and resources required to build tools, analyze information, and solve business problems.
Oscar argues that if technology makes work significantly faster and cheaper, clients should also benefit from that efficiency.
Finally, Lee and Oscar discuss how coffee professionals can become more comfortable with data and technology by experimenting, asking better questions, and gradually building data literacy into the way they operate their businesses.
Connect with Oscar Montoya here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oscar-montoyah/