The Data Chief

The data landscape is evolving in the life sciences and healthcare sectors. Murali Vridhachalam, the Head of Enterprise Data and Analytics at Gilead Sciences, and Mahmood Majeed, Managing Partner at ZS Associates, offer their compelling perspectives on digital transformation in life sciences and healthcare and how data can be used in these areas to improve patient outcomes. Plus, Mahmood and Murali share their takes on how to effectively reskill data professionals and the role of IT in healthcare and life sciences is evolving.Tune in to learn:How has the pandemic driven digital transformation in healthcare and life sciences? (05:34)Why has healthcare and life sciences historically been behind in terms of digital (11:37) transformation?Does data mesh add to confusion? (19:59)How has modern data and analytics delivered better patient outcomes? (25:21) How do you effectively upskill and reskill your people? (30:41)Mentions:Zhamak DehghaniData MeshGet even more insights from data and analytics leaders like Murali and Mahmood on The Data Chief.  Mission.org is a media studio producing content for world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org. Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

Your data will never be clean and it will never be perfect. So how do we create meaningful models anyway? As Dr. Katia Walsh puts it, data leaders are facing a “tsunami of data.” But that tsunami shouldn’t stop you from testing, iterating, and moving quickly. Dr. Walsh is the Chief Global Strategy and AI Officer at Levi Strauss & Co. and today she shares how her team has leveraged a mindset of “think big, start small, scale fast” to create cutting-edge data models and digital capabilities quickly. Tune in to learn:(4:22) Why every business is a data business and how building out new digital and AI capabilities is about improving the 3Cs (connections, commerce, and creation.)(8:21) How Levi Strauss & Co. leverages data to create custom experiences no matter where a customer engages with them. As Katia says, “It’s not business; it’s personal.”(18:43) Why Katia’s motto is “think big, start small, scale fast.”(19:43) What do when you don’t have perfect data (and why you will never truly have perfect data).(27:55) Where to look for your organization’s next data leader - it’s not where you think.(30:36) How Levi Strauss & Co. is using bootcamps to increase data literacy at every level of the organization.Mentions:Levis.comGet even more insights from data and analytics leaders like Katia on The Data Chief.  Mission.org is a media studio producing content for world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org. Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

With every passing year, a new batch of data tools comes available, and a new crop of data professionals enters the job market. The Chief Data Officer has evolved into a position that acts both on the offensive and defensive sides of these changes. Our guest today, Cara Dailey, the EVP, and CDO at LPL Financial, has helped shape and define the role of data leaders in the C-suite as she’s moved through her career. Her experiences at companies like Nike, Bank of the West, and Silicon Valley Bank have led her to embody a spirit of data-enablement – rather than governance. She also begs the question, “Is all data created equal?” Tune in to find out on this episode of The Data Chief. Mentions: InvestInDataTom DavenportRandy Bean - Fail Fast, Learn FasterSimon Sinek - Start with WhyMonte Carlo Barr MosesHarvard Business ReviewKey TakeawaysGreat CDOs balance offense and defense. Primarily, the role of the CDO started with the idea that organizations needed someone focused on protecting the data, keeping it safe and secure. Now, as the world has evolved, so has the role. Modern data leaders need to also be able to impact their organization by bringing value through performance data analytics for clients, customers, and employees. Cara posits that it’s not enough to simply protect; you must also ask yourself what are you actively contributing? Focus on data enablement. The best data executives can think of themselves as part of a data enablement forum, inviting a collaborative attitude in the increasingly important world of data governance. Make it such an integral part of the program you’re creating as the data leader. Think of yourself and your team as the data glue that holds the organization together. Not all data is created equal. While data is a powerful tool for decision-making, it’s important to remember not all data needs to or even should be valued the same. In highly regulated environments, absolute accuracy may be required. But for internal use cases like improving a product or process, directional indicators are just as good.Get even more insights from data and analytics leaders like Cara on The Data Chief.   Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

If you look around your home, it’s very likely you have at least one item from the Unilever family of brands lying around. From the soap in your shower to the ice cream bars in your freezer, Unilever delivers everyday products that help people get more out of life. And they rely on data to ensure they’re doing so sustainably. Today’s guests are Unilever Director of Digital Finance Transformation, Vandana Khanna, and Director of Data and Analytics, Deeksha Singh. On this episode, the two leaders join Cindi to share exactly how they’re using data to impact everything from supply chain decisions to employee belonging. They also dive into how they are demystifying data at every level, eliminating manual reporting and data visualization work, and using data and AI to be a more sustainable company. All of this and more in today’s episode with Vandana Khanna and Deeksha Singh. Get even more insights from data and analytics leaders like Vandana and Deeksha on The Data Chief.  Key TakeawaysChange starts with inspiration: When an organization is used to manually creating dashboard reports for every business question or visualizing data in Excel, it can be hard to break these habits and change behaviors at scale. The key is inspiring people with the art of the possible. Show users what good looks like and how technology can empower them to be faster and smarter, and the rest will follow.Digital transformation goes hand in hand with opportunity: It’s common for business people to run for the hills when they hear the word “transformation.” As a leader, it’s important to communicate that there's nothing to fear. There is no transformation without people. You need both to move the needle, and often people’s roles become even more important because they’re needed to ensure the technology is working as it should.You may never be bias-free, but you can be bias-aware: People and data are inherently biased, but thankfully bias awareness is growing in corporate culture. One of the most effective ways that global brands like Unilever are achieving less bias and more diversity is by bringing more diverse leaders into the fold. These leaders bring new perspectives and context to processes that increase the inclusivity of your product and organization overall. Key QuotesVandana:“So an example would be when we started working on RPAs, we started taking away all the manual reporting. Imagine the width and the breadth of the manual reporting we had! As soon as RPA were put in place we had triggered momentum across the sourcing units with these RPAs. They became the biggest hit because people said, ‘Oh, wow, I'm able to save so much time.’” “Human beings have biases. We cannot eliminate our biases. No matter how we try, we will never be bias-free. We will be bias-aware.” Deeksha:“I also believe that data is one of the key strategic assets for any transformation to happen for any organization for that matter. And it's growing, it's growing in variety in volume in velocity. Any organization will be able to manage the complexity and make sense of this data in a timely manner, which I think will thrive when it comes to digital transformation today and in future.” “Sustainability is at the core, the heart of everything we do. Unilever's purpose is about making sustainable living commonplace, and yes, a large amount of data is being used – in terms of how we enable a reduction in carbon reduction in plastic deforestation and its impact and even sustainable sourcing. So if I were to pick an example, a case in point of sustainable sourcing. We've partnered with a third party who provides us with the cloud services that, along with the satellite data that is available – in terms of monitoring the impact of these ingredients that are being sold from different locations across the globe, coupled with the power of AI. We mix all of this [and] we get very rich geospatial data, which we are using in a lot of decision making when it comes to, where we are sourcing from. So for example, if these ingredients are being sourced from a location, which is impacted by deforestation and has a future impact of deforestation, we can take a quick decision of not sourcing from those locations, from those places where there is deforestation in act.”“I feel that as an organization, what we have also realized is the power of data and digital literacy, which is around raising the floor and bringing people along – in terms of making them literate [and] making them aware of things that are coming their way, rather than just giving them a surprise, blow to their heads to say that we are changing tomorrow.”“Everybody wants change, but nobody wants to change.” MentionsUnstereotype - Unilever’s bias awareness and trainingMagnum Ice Cream - Mentioned guest productInvisible Women - Book recommendation BiosVandana KhannaAs a digital transformation Leader and Director of Digital Finance Transformation at Unilever, Vandana has extensive experience in Finance, IT, Supply Chain, and Product Management — delivering analytics, data science, and automation capabilities that help companies thrive. With deep expertise in CPG, Telecommunications, Retail, and Pharma, I lead diverse teams of direct and indirect reports and drive results through finely-tuned business acumen using Agile practices. She is responsible for leading the design and delivery of complex projects leveraging BI and Data Analytics to answer critical business questions, detect consumer behavior and provide creative solutions for a wide range of business challenges.She incorporates technologies like IoT, Cloud, Big Data to improve the financial performance of any organization. I have developed business intelligence and reporting solutions through ETL, Data governance, and Data Visualization.Deeksha SinghDeeksha is the Director of Data and Analytics at Unilever, who is an information technology  leader, with more than 10 years of experience. She is well-versed in Platform, Operations Management, Data & Analytics, and Digital Transformation. She has proven expertise in managing complex transformation initiatives, navigating ambiguities, and partnering with Senior Stakeholders. Deeksha is recognized for cost-effective system improvements, operational streamlining, efficient change management, and a positive leadership style. Currently, she is setting up the Global Analytics Platform for Unilever simplifying access to data and insights, while crafting seamless user experience and joined-up user journeys. Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

Nitish Mathew, the Global Head of Data Engineering and Governance at Afterpay, joins The Data Chief to discuss measuring the impact of analytics, the rise of the analytics engineer, the importance of taking risks, and much more.Tune in to learn:Why you can't take a data center mindset to the cloud (6:30)Why stakeholder satisfaction is the ultimate KPI (15:00)Inspiring your team through purpose (19:10)How to build a “walled garden” for business users (22:40)The importance of taking risks and celebrating failures (30:40)Get even more insights from data and analytics leaders like Nitish on The Data Chief.Episode mentions:Afterpay BlogNetezzaBlockCashAppChristian IdiodiFive Dysfunctions of the TeamFail Fast, Learn Faster: Lessons in Data-Driven Leadership in an Age of Disruption, Big Data, and AI Risk: A User's GuideINSPIRED: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love--The Data Chief is presented by our friends at ThoughtSpot. Searching through your company’s data for insights doesn’t have to be complicated. With ThoughtSpot, anyone in your organization can easily answer their own data questions, find the facts, and make better, faster decisions. Learn more at thoughtspot.com.  Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

Whether you’ve passed your cursor over their logo on a streaming service, spotted it on the front of a Golden State Warriors jersey, or use their cash-back rebate system, the Rakuten brand is everywhere and actively expanding. Today’s guest, Takuya Kitagawa is the Managing Executive Officer & CDO at Rakuten. On this episode, Takuya joins Cindi to discuss how the company has found massive, international success across multiple industries by integrating data across lines of business to deliver better customer experiences. He also dives into the importance of data fluency at every level, and elaborates on how Rakuten is leveraging the concept of “digital twins” to better connect with customers. Stick around to hear all of this, plus exciting details regarding Rakuten latest moonshot projects.Key TakeawaysIntegrated data delivers better customer experiences: Rakuten has seen major success in offering enhanced services and experiences to customers around the world. Their secret? Integrating data across multiple lines of business, starting with customer login credentials. This approach makes using multiple services a seamless experience and builds customer loyalty.You don’t have to reinvent the wheel: Before building a new technology from the ground up, see if anyone else has already done it. There’s so much you can learn, borrow, or buy from others. If you can learn to leverage the innovation that’s already happening around you, you’ll be in a better position to accelerate your own digital transformation. Invest in data fluency at every level: It’s important that executives be just as data fluent as anyone else in your organization. For Rakuten, investing in data fluency at the highest levels of leadership manifests as quarterly AI bootcamps and mandatory data trainings.Key Quotes“We discovered when we acquired the credit card company, that it is much, much cheaper to send traffic from one internal service to the other than down going through of course advertising companies such as Google and Facebook, even though this takes a little ingenuity and creativity. If you think about it, eCommerce and credit cards come really well together because, to shop online, you need credit cards and the key point is how do you connect credit card back to the shopping?”“Our CEO had a very, very clear directive - if we are going to acquire a company, integration of it starts from integration of ID. So log ID needs to be completely the same. This already has been a common practice across Google, in Facebook to align the log ID starting from there you really have to integrate the data. So that's a key point when you acquire a company one of the key agreements you have to make with the other company is we have to integrate ID and data.”“Algorithms [are] becoming a commodity at this point. The key differentiator of AI is data."“Frankly, the best practice is to learn from [the] outside, because venture capital money is flowing at this ridiculous amount, and there [are] so many people, so much money, and so much effort to try to make things easier. Before you try to build what’s necessary yourself, it's better to look around and see if there are other companies who can help you… Be humble. [We] try to learn from our site and leverage what is already there.”MentionsDr. Hisataka Kobayashi’s Discovery of photo immunotherapyHarvard University Partnership FC Barcelona and Golden State WarriorsAbout TakuyaTakuya Kitagawa is the managing executive officer and Chief Data Officer of Rakuten Inc, and serves as the director for Well-being for Planet Earth(WPE). As Chief Data Officer of Rakuten group, he is responsible for the end-to-end value creation and execution of AI & data strategy, and manages a global organization located across the world including Japan, U.S., India, France and Singapore. He also leads Rakuten institute of technology, R&D function of the group, as the global head. Vision of his group is the fundamental understanding of customers and their behaviors with AI and data; how business and service can empower customers to spend their money and time better. As a board of director for well-being for Planet Earth, he further extends and applies the understanding of human beings and society to contribute to more general domains of well-being across the world. Prior to working on AI, he worked as a theoretical physicist and published more than 20 papers in journals including “Science” and “Nature Physics.” Dr. Kitagawa obtained his Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University and A.B. in physics and mathematics from Harvard College.--The Data Chief is presented by our friends at ThoughtSpot. Searching through your company’s data for insights doesn’t have to be complicated. With ThoughtSpot, anyone in your organization can easily answer their own data questions, find the facts, and make better, faster decisions. Learn more at thoughtspot.com.  Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

As the world continues to fill with impersonal, factory-machined goods, so increases the desire to see and feel more human creativity in the items we use in our lives. Etsy, a community marketplace for creative goods, was designed to help people sell their unique and homemade items online. The company continues to innovate and transform the small-business world, leading by focusing on innovation in their technology. Today’s guest, Chu-Cheng Hsieh, is the first Chief Data Officer at Etsy. On this episode, Chu-Cheng Hsieh joins Cindi to discuss his unique perspective on helping build a data-driven organization from the ground up and how he’s fostered a culture of experimentation that has led to rapid growth and transformation within the company. He also dives into trends such as machine learning and data observability, and explains some of the most helpful mental frameworks he’s learned in his life and career.Key TakeawaysCheck human intuition with data: Your gut feeling might be right, but in today’s world it’s critical to remember the importance of being able to back up your thinking and your decisions with facts. Hsieh emphasizes the importance of trusting the data that’s in front of you, even if the answer goes against decades of personal experience.Create a ‘regret minimization framework’: Popularized by Jeff Bezos, the ‘regret minimization framework’ is a way to help you more clearly define what career decisions you should make. It encourages the thinker to imagine being at the end of their life, looking back at what they’ve done, and asking themselves, “Is that really the life story I want to have?”Invest in insights: Hsieh shares that “You don't want to judge your success based on just [the] outcome. You should judge your success based on the decision quality.” By investing in thoughtful decision-making, you can increase the probability of success, even when you don’t have all the facts or data.Key Quotes“I only have one life, so I can either become a professor or I can do something different. So I use[d] something called regret minimization framework. I think Jeff Bezos mentioned this. I closed my eyes, imagined [myself] 30 years from today and I'm telling my life story to my grandson. And I think [what] kind of story will make me feel more excited and happy?”"One thing which I learned, this surprise[d] me, is that human instinct is often wrong. You [think] that if I change this color from blue to red that people will like that. [But] that's your opinion. You are just one person. Even [with] 20 years of experience in this field, you could be wrong. I can show you tons of examples that the data will show totally different[ly] [from] what you thought it to be.”“Your intuition, [is to] think one millisecond doesn't matter. It actually [does] matter because sometimes this one millisecond, especially for people who are using their mobile device, the user experience can be totally different, especially when the network is spotty.”“You don't want to judge your success based on just [the] outcome. You should judge your success based on the decision quality. And if you have good insight, this doesn't mean that you always [are] right. The only thing you can do is to invest [in that] insight, so that when you make a decision, you know the reasons and insight behind the decision. This gives you a higher probability of making the right decision. So this concept of ‘Thinking in Bets’ is what I [use] to help me to make a better quality decision.”MentionsBook: Thinking in Bets Jeff Bezos’ regret minimization frameworkAbout Chu-ChengChu-Cheng Hsieh manages the data org across Etsy globally, including engineering, data science, and machine learning. Partnering with Etsy’s product and business executives, he develops the data strategy, represents data science, and drives high-impact decisions. He is specialised in search engine, recommendation systems, and machine learning technology. His primary responsibility is to deliver strategic and creative data science approaches that help achieve Etsy’s mission and goals.He received a PhD in computer science from UCLA, and has two master degrees. In his leisure time, he enjoys innovating and collaborating with academic researchers. He has brought cutting-edge research into products. He publishes papers in top-tier conferences, such as WWW, SIGIR, KDD, and enjoys giving talks/keynotes at a variety of academic or industrial conferences on information retrieval, recommendation systems, and data mining.--The Data Chief is presented by our friends at ThoughtSpot. Searching through your company’s data for insights doesn’t have to be complicated. With ThoughtSpot, anyone in your organization can easily answer their own data questions, find the facts, and make better, faster decisions. Learn more at thoughtspot.com.  Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

There’s nothing like watching your favorite sports team live and in-person. The roar of the crowd. The smell of the concession stand. The suspense of the game clock winding down to its final seconds. But would you have guessed that behind every ticket purchase, box of cracker jacks, and Jumbotron moment, there are teams of data professionals working to make your fan experience even more seamless and engaging?Joining Cindi today to discuss the data and analytics powering our favorite sports events are Jay Riola, the SVP of Strategy & Innovation for the Orlando Magic, and Charlie Shin, the VP of Data Strategy and Analytics for the Indianapolis Colts. With perspectives from both the NBA and the NFL, Jay and Charlie explore the evolution of mobile ticketing, challenges with identity management, the importance of building fan trust, and the most surprising insights they’ve ever discovered within their data. Key TakeawaysCustomers expect more for their data: When customers share their data, they expect something in return. Respecting their privacy and keeping their data safe are the bare minimum. They expect real, tangible value. As a business, your responsibility is to use this data to enhance their experience. Whether that be through custom offers, more relevant content recommendations, or more seamless purchasing experiences, what matters most is that you’re delivering on the expectation of value.Collecting data is one thing, putting it together is another: While technologies like mobile payments and social media have made it easier for businesses to collect data, they’ve also added complexity to the process of building accurate customer profiles. To truly understand the person on the other side of the screen, you must have the right skills and infrastructure to bring all that data together. Great data scientists need to be a triple threat: It is no longer enough to be very good at the technical components of your job and “so-so” at translating insights into actionable recommendations for business stakeholders. The best data scientists have technical chops, a deep understanding of how their business works, and the storytelling skills to turn insights into influence.Key QuotesCharlie:“In sports, they started off by focusing on the product, which is the on-field performance, our players. So a lot of the emphasis was using datas to optimize their investments, enhance their quality of on-field performance. But as the competition grew… now we've seen a shift where the focus is more on the customers and their experience in addition to the on-field quality.”“Identity management is a key topic in sports at this point… We have a variety of different data sources, whether it's ticketing, merchandising, digital engagement, or website or apps, there's a lot of information that's coming through. And then we're trying to figure out how do we tie all this together so that we have that clear understanding of that single view of our customers across these touchpoints. And I don't think this is just a sports industry challenge, right? I think it's a challenge across all industries that manage consumer information.”Jay:“We were a pretty early adopter of variable ticket pricing and thinking about the value from a ticket perspective of our games differently based on the team that we were playing, the time of the year, whether it was early in the season versus later in the season, obviously weekday versus weekend, but just recognizing that the marketplace values these games differently and so should we... Then it became, how do we dynamically price our tickets? How are we changing pricing as we approach games to reflect the demand situation that we have or if an opponent is performing better or worse than we expected, and we can raise or lower pricing. I think where data is really helping guide us… is product development and thinking about ticketing in new and kind of transformational ways.”“We have seen significant growth in ticketing revenue and improvement in retention of fans, as we've introduced this more sophisticated way of thinking about pricing and sales to our business. And I would venture to guess that most teams that have implemented this are seeing returns as well in terms of revenue growth and also total ticket sold.”“We are fortunate to work in an industry where fans are more willing to share their data with us… But I do think that the same expectations do come along, which is I'm giving you something and in return, there's an expectation, obviously that you will protect my data and store it safely… but also that now you're going to enrich my experience with you somehow… I think it's kind of shifting responsibility to companies to be far more active in how they think about not just security and data management, but returning value on that expectation that will come from your fans and your consumers.”About CharlieCharlie Shin is a highly analytical customer strategy and marketing executive with global and domestic experience in data analytics, strategic planning, project management, customer segmentation, customer relationship management, and KPI management. He excels at guiding enterprise data strategy, CRM initiatives, and organization-wide marketing technology infrastructure.Prior to joining the Colts, Charlie was a VP of Strategy & Analytics at MLS for past 15 years where he developed the foundation and enhanced league-wide data strategy, analytic capabilities and CRM technology infrastructure. He also worked as a senior business consultant at Samsung OpenTide and PwC Consulting for over six years managing various projects related to customer strategy, CRM strategy, performance marketing, customer segmentation and new business model development. In addition, he currently serves as an adjunct faculty at NYU and Columbia University.Charlie holds a BA in business administration from Yonsei University and an MS in sports business from New York University.About JayJay Riola is entering his 16th season with the Orlando Magic. He was promoted to senior vice president of strategy & innovation in July 2019. Riola oversees the Magic’s business strategy and innovation efforts including data engineering, strategy and analytics, mobile strategy, CRM, digital marketing and marketing technology, as well as other strategic initiatives and special projects.Riola started with the Magic as an intern in 2006 and worked as part of the Magic’s internal team overseeing the design and construction of the Amway Center, which opened in 2010. Since 2010, he has worked in several roles to grow the Magic’s data and analytics program from a small, startup effort into a department that is regarded by sports industry professionals as a best-in-class team. Riola has also helped lead the Magic’s mobile strategy and digital technology efforts, including advancement of the team’s mobile app and development of new and innovative digital ticketing solutions. In 2016, he helped lead the process to bring the Orlando Magic’s G-League team, the Lakeland Magic, to Lakeland, Florida, negotiating the deal with the City of Lakeland and the RP Funding Center.In addition to his role with the Magic, Riola is an adjunct instructor with the DeVos Sport Business Management Graduate Program at the University of Central Florida, where he teaches a sport business analytics course. He is active in the broader sports business industry serving on several boards and advisory committees, including currently serving as chair for UCF’s DeVos Sports Business Management Program’s Advisory Board, Baylor University’s Center for Sports Strategy and Sales (S3), KORE Software’s Customer Advisory Board, the Greater Orlando Sports Commission’s Human Rights Committee for its 2026 FIFA World Cup Candidate City Bid and the NBA’s Team Innovation Advisory Council (TIAC). Riola also serves on the board of Sports2Change, a nonprofit organization he founded that encourages volunteerism among youth student-athletes in Central Florida.Riola received his bachelor's degree in business administration with concentrations in finance and marketing from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas in 2006, where he played on the men’s basketball team. He received his MBA from the University of Florida in 2011. Riola currently resides in Orlando’s College Park neighborhood with his wife, Julia. They have a daughter, Madeline, and a son, Mason.--The Data Chief is presented by our friends at ThoughtSpot. Searching through your company’s data for insights doesn’t have to be complicated. With ThoughtSpot, anyone in your organization can easily answer their own data questions, find the facts, and make better, faster decisions. Learn more at thoughtspot.com.  Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

Iwao Fusillo, Chief Data and Analytics Officer at General Motors, shares insights on building successful data teams and fostering data literacy. He highlights the importance of assessing passion and transferable skills when recruiting top talent. The podcast discusses the role of data and analytics in GM's future and their efforts to attract top talent. They also touch on the overlap between the AI and data communities and the importance of data literacy and driving passion in a job.

Every day we make decisions. Some are as simple as deciding when to leave for work in order to beat traffic or what to eat for breakfast. Others bear much greater importance, such as what new products to launch or what new markets to tackle. Analytics plays an important role in helping your business make these decisions in a smarter, more data-driven way.“The purpose of analytics is to help us make decisions, is to create decision-making capabilities across the company. The next step was to find out what those decisions are that we would need to make? When I say decisions, these are not like once in a quarter, boardroom decisions. I'm talking about everyday decisions that many of our colleagues make every single day.”Vijay Kotu is the SVP of Data and Analytics for ServiceNow, a company that is helping enterprises manage digital workflows. In this episode of the Data Chief, Vijay discusses how he is building a high-growth “mathematical enterprise” where frontline workers are empowered to make smarter business decisions with data and AI. He also speaks about the impact of ecosystems, the need for businesses to have a holistic view of their data in order to create positive outcomes, and why being intentional about analytics use cases is absolutely essential. Key Takeaways:Don’t underestimate the impact of micro-decisions: We all want to be more data-driven, but don’t fall into the trap of thinking that data and analytics can only be applied to once-a-quarter, boardroom-level decisions. Enabling frontline employees to be more data-driven in their everyday work is a hugely powerful way to make a positive impact across your entire business.Evaluate how data can improve workflows: The holy grail of analytics is converting insights to action. One of the most effective ways to do this is by automating workflows whenever and wherever possible. With automation, you help everyone in the business be more efficient without adding any extra work or manual decision-making.Data becomes exponentially more powerful when it’s connected: Having all of your proprietary data in one place is a great way to start your data journey but it becomes exponentially more valuable when you connect it to outside data sources. Bringing together multiple sources of data gives you even richer insights about your customers, employees, and products.Data serves the business: At the end of the day, your data goals should align with that of businesses. Data and analytics professionals must remember that data is there to serve sales, marketing, product, IT, etc. into making better decisions for the business. They are the ones running the functions and the data and analytics teams are the backbone of that. Therefore, data teams should be designing products with that in mind.Key Quotes“The purpose of analytics is to help us make decisions, is to create decision-making capabilities across the company. The next step was to find out what those decisions are that we would need to make? When I say decisions, these are not like once in a quarter, boardroom decisions. I'm talking about everyday decisions that many of our colleagues make every single day.”“Data just in one place, it's less valuable. But when you connect it with other data points that you have, it becomes even more valuable.”“What are you going to do with those insights? That would be the actions. If these insights are helping you make a decision, how do we actually put that decision in action is closing the loop. That has been the Holy Grail of analytics. Rather than stopping at insights, you're closing the loop on helping people do that action here.”“The things that matter the most for our customers right now is a prioritization decision, and doing really well in those areas will help us reach further in our goal.”Bio:Vijay Kotu is Senior Vice President of Analytics at ServiceNow. He leads the implementation of large-scale data platforms and services to support the company's enterprise business. He has led analytics organizations for over a decade with focus on data strategy, business intelligence, machine learning, experimentation, engineering, enterprise adoption, and building analytics talent. Prior to joining ServiceNow, he was Vice President of Analytics at Yahoo. He worked at Life Technologies and Adteractive where he led marketing analytics, created algorithms to optimize online purchasing behavior, and developed data platforms to manage marketing campaigns. He is a member of the Association of Computing Machinery and a member of the Advisory Board at RapidMiner.To hear more about ServiceNow, check out their podcast.--The Data Chief is presented by our friends at ThoughtSpot. Searching through your company’s data for insights doesn’t have to be complicated. With ThoughtSpot, anyone in your organization can easily answer their own data questions, find the facts, and make better, faster decisions. Learn more at thoughtspot.com.  Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.