CDO Matters Ep. 11 | Modernize Your Data Strategy with Samir Sharma
CDO Matters Podcast
The Importance of Culture in Data Management
Sally Kohn: I want to drill down a little bit because what I think I'm hearing you say is that culture can be molded and adapted through results. What I heard you say is focus on specific use cases, right? Move the needle from a use case perspective. She says data democratization has created this big issue of data literacy. So here's your data. Democratize it. And then they download in Excel and they're comfortable back in Excel. That was in my view.
Our understanding of data and its role within a business isn’t the same as it was 20 years ago. As data leaders embark on a modern data strategy, it is important continually adapt to change while operating with agility.
Malcolm interviews Samir Sharma, the CEO and Founder of datazuum, a data strategy and analytics consulting firm. Samir and Malcolm discuss many of the more significant challenges facing Chief Data Officers (CDOs) as they pursue their strategic priorities, with Samir providing a trove of useful and highly pragmatic guidance for any CDO looking to meet both short-term and longer-term goals.
Early in the discussion, they dive into the unhealthy fascination data leaders have on implementing technology without first understanding the business problems it will solve. Malcolm and Samir also share CDOs need to clearly understand their organizations’ existing operating model and their level of data and analytics maturity, as both are critical in defining a data strategy roadmap.
Samir shares his framework for working with CDOs whose stated strategic goals require greater maturity but are often starting at ground zero — which involves taking an agile and pragmatic approach to testing the organization’s ability to provide short-term business benefits around certain data use cases within specific engagement models.
The conversation then shifts to the importance of the culture of an organization and how that impacts the ability of a CDO to deliver a data strategy. However, unlike more conventional approaches to delivering a data strategy that puts culture change as a dependency for CDO success, Samir makes a compelling argument to work best within the existing culture and find ways to deliver value and speak in a common language without requiring drastic cultural shifts. He outlines how developing a common language and a clear understanding of expected outcomes is key for allowing CDOs to work within the cultural constraints of a given business.
Data literacy programs come under the crosshairs of both Samir and Malcolm, where it’s posited that data literacy programs may often be a symptom of larger organizational dysfunctions. Rather than seeing data literacy as the solution, Samir makes a case for a broader focus on having CDOs and their teams more focused on developing knowledge of business processes and where those processes are architected — all with a deep understanding of the importance of data from the ground-up.
CDOs focused on defining or executing their data strategies will find this episode of CDO Matters particularly useful, especially those frustrated with the speed or effectiveness of their efforts. This episode makes a compelling case for a more agile, iterative and pragmatic approach to a data strategy that removes major dependencies — such as culture change or a focus on literacy — to one focused on adapting to any existing culture and operating model.
Key Moments
[2:06] Top Takeaways from Big Data London Conference & Exhibition
[7:28] Focusing on Business Outcomes and Building Data Technologies
[11:35] Creating a Data Strategy
[14:32] Data Ownership and Domain Retention
[19:10] Business Maturity and Understanding Data Products
[21:10] Assessing Your Data Strategy
[28:44] Remaining Pragmatic and Operating with Agility
[31:31] Maintaining a Business Culture and Preserving Data Values
[36:11] Knowing Your Business Process
[38:06] Deconstructing Data Literacy
[41:10] Breaking Down Your Business Data Model
[42:52] Making Changes to Drive Value
Key Takeaways
Building Data Technologies (10:07)
“I think when I look at it, technology is easier than having to put together the notion of scratching your heads and wondering what you are going to do…I think this is just another iteration of the whole marketing movement for tooling…we had all of the various different terms that we were attempting to implement…all of those areas that which we’re trying to improve how we work, but why have we got all this stuff? Because the systems can’t integrate…we need to start with a data-focused view.” — Samir Sharma
Is Data Ownership Relevant? (14:31)
“I think it’s okay to talk about ownership from the perspective of an individual application. But when you start talking about domains that are used everywhere, it’s a horrible label…To me, the notion of ownership…not all data is created equally. I think the notion of ownership is misguided.” — Malcolm Hawker
Launching Your Data Strategy (21:48)
“There’s got to be a certain amount of standardization…a certain amount of proof of value that you can start to show stakeholders who are going to invest in this thing long-term. I think that’s one thing that many people forget. Before you go out and start thinking about centralization versus decentralization or a factory model or whatever you might want to have, you got to think about use cases…we want to prove value and we want to show how we can do it and want to show that early benefit to stakeholders.” — Samir Sharma
Promoting an Adaptable Data Culture (35:06)
“My view around culture is that there is one. We don’t need to disrupt it. What we need to do is get better at engaging with each other. We need to set a foundation of ways of working that will use business language and be able to talk to somebody about the outcomes that they are looking for.” — Samir Sharma
About Samir Sharma
Samir is the CEO and Founder of datazuum, a data strategy, and analytics consulting firm. Advising businesses on how to prioritize data activities, identifying growth possibilities and using data to boost revenue and profit. His clients span the UK, Europe and North America while ranging from medium-sized firms to major multi-national corporations.
Prior to datazuum, Samir worked at Computer Sciences Corporation, Accenture, Christie’s and Vertex Business Services where he led the development of their data and analytics business. He writes on all things related to data strategy, roadmap development and how to execute the data strategy where he shares his experiences and lessons learned.
Samir is a frequent keynote speaker and hosts the Data Strategy Show podcast, which was named one of the Top 10 Podcasts of 2022, as well as leading Ask Me Anything events with top data executives.
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