Valon

The Challenge: Disconnected tools blocked analysis for customer-facing teams

Before Hex, mortgage servicing startup Valon, relied on a data stack consisting of BigQuery, Google Sheets, and a BI tool for its data and analytics needs. Kevin Lee, Valon’s Head of Data Analytics, juggled multiple disconnected tools to run queries, build charts, and prepare business-critical reporting. Analysis often started in the BigQuery console, continued in Google Sheets, and ended with dashboards in a BI tool. It worked, but it was far from ideal.

The workflow was time-consuming and prone to errors. Analysts faced limitations like Google Sheets' row limits, lack of version control, and brittle links between queries and charts. To preserve auditability, they sometimes pasted SQL queries next to charts. Their BI tool offered some structure but lacked flexibility, especially for deep or fast-changing analysis. "It was just the way things were," Kevin said. "We accepted it."

The Solution: Empowering operations, support with Hex

A spark that caught fire

Hex was first introduced to the Valon team when one analyst took the initiative to explore it independently through a trial. After showcasing the power of parameterized notebooks and the smooth SQL-to-chart experience, curiosity quickly turned into team-wide adoption. “Once one analyst catches on, the fire spreads fast,” Kevin said. Within a month, the entire analytics team was using Hex.

Automating client reporting - saving a week of analyst time and accelerating client delivery

The first major use case was client reporting. Valon needed to send 20+ operational metrics to clients each month in a rigid format. Previously, this was a sprawling Google Sheet with one tab per metric. Each tab contained its own embedded query, and refreshing it meant manually rerunning each one, revalidating the format, and stitching everything together—a process that took up to a week of an analyst's time and carried high risk for error or inconsistency.

With Hex, that entire process was rebuilt into a single parameterized notebook. Hex's integrated workflow allowed analysts to dynamically adjust reporting periods, run validated queries in a structured way, and reliably format outputs — all within a single environment. Analysts could filter by reporting period, write back to BigQuery for record-keeping, and output a unified table for easy copy-paste into client spreadsheets. Today, the Ops team handles the export with no analyst involvement. "It takes virtually no analyst time now," Kevin stated. "That’s huge.”

Lightweight orchestration with alerting: Hex as Airflow-lite

Hex isn't just for analysis at Valon. The data team uses it to power daily data pipelines. One scheduled notebook waits for dbt jobs to finish, queries outputs, generates CSVs, delivers them via secure file transfer (SFTP), and sends alerts if something goes wrong. “We use Hex as a streamlined alternative to Airflow for simpler reporting tasks,” Kevin said. “It lets us move quickly without needing to pull in engineering for every automation.”

Data apps that let operations, servicing, and customer support teams get answers

Valon also built internal tools using Hex notebooks to unblock teams. Now, operations, servicing, and customer support teams across the business can input a loan number and instantly retrieve key data points without writing SQL or waiting on analysts. These data apps reduce bottlenecks and bring data directly to decision-makers. Operations teams can resolve issues with instant access to loan data, servicing teams get up-to-date performance insights, and customer support can respond more confidently and quickly without needing help from analysts.

The Impact: Customer-focused data apps that give back an entire week of analyst time

Customer support, operations, and servicing teams now self-serve insights they previously relied on analysts to generate. This means they deliver a better experience to customers, who now receive more timely and reliable service. Client reporting runs on autopilot, and internal teams move more efficiently across the board.

Meanwhile, the data team no longer wastes days on repetitive tasks like manual reporting. Instead, they can focus on delivering strategic value across the organization, scaling their impact without scaling headcount.

"We couldn't do what we do today without Hex," Kevin stated. "It gave us a level of operational capability we just didn't have before."

From faster data team workflows to enabling cross-functional teams to get answers from trusted analysis, Hex has reshaped how Valon’s data team drives influence and accelerates business.