S3 | Ep 1 | Valuing Your Data as an Asset with Davin Crowley-Sweet, CDO at National Highways
Nov 8, 2022
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In this podcast episode, Davin Crowley-Sweet, Chief Data Officer at National Highways, discusses the importance of valuing data as an asset. He highlights the need for data literacy and business literacy, the role of a CDO in creating value, and the impact of valuing data on strategy and investments. The speakers also reflect on past experiences and lessons learned, and emphasize the successful execution of a data strategy that generated £60 million in benefits.
Valuing data as an asset helps businesses make informed investment decisions and prioritize data projects for maximum value.
Shifting the perception of data from a technical concern to a strategic asset helps organizations allocate resources effectively and achieve business goals.
Deep dives
Valuing Data as an Asset
Valuing data as an asset is crucial for organizations to understand its worth and allocate resources accordingly. By assigning a tangible value to data, businesses can make informed decisions about investment and capital allocation. This approach helps in prioritizing data projects and focusing on strategies that deliver the greatest value.
Shifting the Perception of Data
The perception of data needs to shift from being a technical or operational concern to being recognized as a valuable asset. It is important for organizations to see data as a strategic asset that can generate benefits and contribute to achieving business goals. This shift in perception enables businesses to prioritize data-related initiatives and invest resources in managing data effectively.
Building Data Literacy
Building data literacy within the organization is crucial for effective decision-making and realizing the value of data. Instead of expecting everyone to become data literate, organizations should focus on helping the data team become more business literate. This helps in building a common language between data professionals and the business, facilitating better collaboration and understanding of each other's needs and goals.
Impact on Brand and Talent
Valuing data as an asset and executing a data strategy has a significant impact on an organization's brand and its ability to attract and retain talent. Emphasizing purpose and creating an environment where data professionals can see the impact of their work not only enhances the organization's reputation but also helps in recruiting top talent who are motivated by the opportunity to make a meaningful difference with data.
In Episode 1 of Season 3, of Driven By Data: The Podcast our CEO Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Davin Crowley-Sweet, Chief Data Officer at National Highways, where they discuss how to value your data like you value any other asset, which includes;
Why CDO’s shouldn’t expect organisations to know what they want/need
How data is an intangible digital asset that can be valued like any other asset whether you do something with it or not
The difference between “value” and “benefits” are how we’re confusing them
Why it makes no sense that our balance sheet tells us more about our furniture than it does about data
How he was able to value the data asset at £60 billion which was 50% of the value of the roads and 10x more than their technology assets
Why valuing your data drives proportionate capital investment into it
Data Literacy V Business Literacy
How the data strategy took 12 months to complete, included input from 300 people and identified circa £1 billion of potential upside
The role that Anmut played in helping to value their data assets
How they calculated it would cost £300m to realise £1bn in return and the strategy to do that cost £3m
How one project cost £400K to deliver over 6 months and returned £60 million
The difference between quick wins and being opportunistic
Why you must be a business leader first and a data leader second
Why you have to frame data in a language your business understands
How being able to quantify & articulate the value and benefits of data has made attracting talent much easier
The mistakes he made at the start
Why you need to be disruptive but not cause disruption
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