Cloud Realities CRSP07: State of AI 2025 pt.2 - For the love of data with Indhira Mani, Intact Insurance
Nov 6, 2025
Indhira Mani, the Chief Data Officer at Intact Insurance UK, shares her journey from a non-linear career path to a deep passion for data. She emphasizes the human side of AI adoption, arguing that technology should serve people, not overshadow them. Indhira discusses the importance of data quality and ownership, and how diverse datasets can enhance decision-making. She also highlights the need for critical thinking and ethical considerations in using AI, reinforcing that human empathy remains crucial in any tech-driven process.
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Unexpected Romance With Data
- Indhira Mani described her non-linear career as a "parallel perpendicular rectangular square" journey into data driven by curiosity, resilience and courage.
- She got into data when handed a regulatory data workstream and discovered a lasting "silent romance" with data that solved problems and energized her career.
Data As A Business Enabler
- Indhira frames data as an enabling function that must solve real business problems rather than an ivory-tower exercise.
- She emphasises starting from business outcomes and building data estates incrementally to deliver quick value.
Work Right-To-Left From Outcomes
- Start with the result you want and work right-to-left to identify the data ingredients you need for that output.
- Source good-quality inputs and implement governance, because poor input data cannot be fixed solely by AI or automation.