Driven by Data: The Podcast

In Episode 43 of Season 3, of Driven by Data: The Podcast, we’re sharing the conversation that Orbition Group’s very own Kyle Winterbottom and Catherine King took part in for the DAMA UK and BCS Diversity in Data Conference, hosted by Jenny Andrew, which includes; A snapshot of the Data & Analytics talent landscape today Current trends in Data & Analytics talentEncouraging more women into Senior Leadership How to create truly diverse teams  The importance of Non-STEM routes into Data The need to raise awareness at earlier ages Why we should be striving for diversity of thought How most organisations confuse DEI & representation The role of non-technical roles in diversity The importance of mentorship How to utilise events and external networking opportunitiesBattling Imposter Syndrome The impact job descriptions have on diversity What do companies mean by hybrid working in 2023Fixing a flawed hiring process Video link to conference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzmE9P-JD0s&t=18s

In Episode 42 of Season 3, of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by, Scott Hirleman, CEO and Founder of Data Mesh Understanding and host of 'Data Mesh Radio' podcast where they discuss, the current Data Mesh landscape and how that's been impacted by Generative AI, which includes; What Data Mesh is, and what it isn'tThe current state of play in the Data Mesh landscape What has worked in relation to extracting value from Data MeshThe organisations that have been very successful in implementing Data Mesh The common use cases that make it applicable If Data Mesh is right for your organisation, or notWhy you would consider taking the Data Mesh route The impact of agility and speedThe struggles of implementing at scale What to do and what not to do Why Data Mesh has been drowned out by Gen AIThe relationship between Data Mesh and Gen AI Why the D&A industry is obsessed with chasing the "new shiny" How to prevent ourselves from doing so How to leverage our businesses' enthusiasm for the "new shiny"

In Episode 41 of Season 3, of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by, Beth Bauer, Founder and CEO of PosiROI, where they discuss, the 4 key dimensions required to deliver innovation and value at scale, which includes;Why feedback loops are critical to driving innovation and a data-informed culture The importance of meeting people where they areWhy value means different people to different peopleWhy value always needs to translate to money eventually How the 1st steps of value creation are unlikely to be related to moneyWhy we need to recognise there are different value points Why having the data culture that we want can create power struggles The 4 dimensions that underpin the journey toward value creation Why Sales, Marketing and Speed define whether your innovation will be successfulHow innovation occurs in silos within the same organisationsThe ADEPT framework for strategies that assist with the acceleration of the 4 dimensions in a data-informed cultureWhy value of data needs to be measured against the number of use cases it can solve Why trust is the anchor to everything Why relationships will always win over data in building trust Building a high-performance team that creates value with dataWhy data is a team game and not just a data-team game To build a data-informed culture you need a sales and marketing capability

In Episode 40 of Season 3, of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by, Deepak Jose, Global Senior Director, Head of One Demand Data Analytics Solutions at Mars Wrigley, where they discuss how to create a value-first mindset to break down organisational silo’s, which includes;Creating a single source of truth The ‘one-demand’ mindset How the concept of Ikigai led him to MarsHow to understand, identify and prioritise business problems that add valueMoving from reducing costs to creating profit and growth The importance of building relationships with functional leaders The 70, 20, 10 principle which dictates where investment and resource is directed Being “value-driven” despite the hype of being “data-driven”What constitutes valueThe concept of the 'balance scorecard' to create KPI’s that generate value The story of the Honduran Bridge and the relationship with Data Products White Box Building and Interoperability Investing in Change Management Why value-realisation is a team sport Why you need to build to adapt not build to last to break down silosBuilding a Gen AI Operating Model that drives a value-first approach The Gen AI Framework; do things, do things better and do better things The learnings of a 20+ year career of working at giants like Coca-Cola and MarsThe importance of challenging the status quoWhy you should be a Gazelle and not a Lion!

In Episode 39 of Season 3, of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by, Allison Sagraves, Founding (former) Chief Data Officer at M&T Bank, and Board Advisor, where they discuss the role of the CDAO in the new era of AI and why they are set-up to fail, which includes;91.9% of firms report that they have achieved some measurable value from their investments in data and analytics,23.9% say they have created a data-driven organization20.6% of firms report having established a data cultureBetween 2012 and 2023, companies having appointed a CDO grew from just 12.0% to 82.6%Only 35.5% of major companies report that the role is successful and well-established Just 40.5% say that the CDAO role is well understood within their companyThe three generations of CDO to CDAO and the pending CDAIO roleThe functional evolution of the CDAO roleWhy the goalposts keep moving for the CDAOThe need for defined success metrics Why the Data & Analytics industry is always under construction Why we’re too glass half empty and there’s too much focus on what we’ve not achieved  The need to quantify what value is and communicate the value we’ve achieved The “build it and they will come” mentality How we no longer need to sell the simple concepts of dataIf you’re still having to convince people then you’ve got the wrong people in the companyWhether reporting line impacts the effectiveness of the CDAO role The hardest thing for any CDAO to figure out is identifying what problem you actually need to solve What’s wrong with the CDAO role as of todayWhat needs to happen to address those issuesMoving into the AI era as a CDAO The skills needed to be a modern-day CDAOLink tot he article discussed in the episode: https://hbr.org/2023/06/why-chief-data-and-ai-officers-are-set-up-to-fail

In Episode 38 of Season 3, of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Sami Rahman, Head of Data Engineering and Data Platform at Penguin Random House, where they discuss how to build an MLOps capability that drives business benefit, which includes;His journey from Business Psychologist to MI5 reject to Data Leader Being told to give up because he would never work in data without a computer science degree Being unemployed for 1 year and receiving 326 rejections Building an entire MLOps system for £50,000Reducing the time to build models from months to days Reducing the time to productionise ML models from 5 months to minutes sGenerating a 200% increase in performance across all 12 measures of success Why MLOps forces you to think about how the model will drive valueHow MLOps can be beneficial across the whole D&A value chain The differences between MLOps and AIOps Why MLOps isn’t new DevOpsThe future of MLOps and the relationship with Genertaive AIChoosing the right MLOps tech and tooling Why you need to explain MLOps in less than 2 sentencesWhen you should start your MLOps journey The usual pitfalls both technical and business that people should be aware ofThe ethical considerationsAI Explainability - how to understand the outcomes in a business context Why we should build an “evil” AI to tackle bias The skills you need to execute successful MLOps

In Episode 37 of Season 3, of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Lena Mass Cresnik, where they discuss how organisations can develop a Generative AI strategy, which includes;The 7 components of a Generative AI strategy Generative AI as human intelligence augmentationOrganisational ROI for using Generative AI toolsThe considerations of developing a Generative AI strategy and roadmapFinancial Services and Fintech Generative AI business use casesThe need for upskilling existing staff The role of organisational design and operating model in relation to Generative AIMeasuring the performance and impact of Generative AI models The level of expertise or skills required within the data team to successfully execute a generative AI strategyThe risks of Generative AIThe differences to consider across different sectors The increase in hyper-personalised content The role that Generative AI will have on the Data & Analytics job market Where Data Leaders should start

In Episode 36 of Season 3, of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Andy Cotgreave, Senior Data Evangelist at Tableau, where they discuss the role of data visualisation in driving change and realising value, which includes;Why successful data analysts often have varied backgrounds Why communication is not a soft skillHow data visualisation is a language The impact that dashboards can have when presented effectivelyHow even the most average dataset is highly subjectiveHow it is so easy to tell different stories with the same dataHow the pandemic provided both examples of how you can strive to be neutral or enforce an opinion The art of creating effective dashboards The role of data visualisation in driving change and realising business value How, many executives use poorly presented charts in their keynotes Four practical tips for better presentation with data visualisation Why he disagrees with Seth GodinWhy you should think about changing your visualisations even if the data is the same Who should care about storytelling with visualisations The importance of aesthetics Why different audiences require different dashboards The impact of data democratisation and self-serve on data visualisation Some key people of influence to follow in this space

In Episode 35 of Season 3, of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Asheeka Hyde, Head of Trading Analytics and Data Science at Dunhelm, where they discuss tangible advice on how to be a better communicator to drive value, which includes;Having Data & Analytics as a key pillar of the organisation How to achieve executive alignment Why most executives are already bought-in Why it’s important for executives to actually experience the benefits of Data & Analytics How to demonstrate value as early as possible The importance of making data problems visible to the execs Why you have to truly inspire peopleWhy “quick wins” are often merely for winning trustUnderstand what we mean by “value”The importance of saying ‘No’ Why you need to change your communication depending upon the maturity of your organisation Why you need to get the execs to prioritise for you The differences to consider between organisations with a clear business strategy and ones without How there is more than one way of communicating and influencingWhy working with a comms professional changed her communication styleWhy consistency of communication is absolutely critical Understanding if you are the right person to communicate the message you want to deliverWhy your communication needs to be thoughtfulIf you want 80% of people to leave a room with the right message, you need to tell them 5 timesWhy you have to find different ways of saying the same thingThe importance of utilising internal comms teams The know, do and feel communication framework The importance of testing if your message is landing Why, if you don’t tell your story then people will create their own

In Episode 34 of Season 3, of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Steve Pimblett, Chief Data Officer at The Very Group, where they discuss how to move data from a cost centre to a value creator, which includes;A transformation journey that has been ongoing for over a century Why some D&A teams are still seen as a cost centre and not a value-creating function Why demonstrating value creation is a primary responsibility of a Data Leader/CDOThe tangible things that Steve has done to be seen as a value-creating functionThe 4 key pillars of their Data Strategy and measuring the capability maturity The value-creation measurement framework they’re using and how that helps to communicate Why you have to connect data and insight to actionThe importance of talking in outcomes and the benefits of those outcomes, and not data Why it’s imperative to have an operating model that supports value-creationA Joint-Venture model to prove value and take to an investment board How they’ve used hastags to demonstrate the value of Data & Analytics as an enabler to the business functions in those JV’sWhy ‘data as a product’ has bridged the communication gap and acts as a client success manager Why PR has been critical in the success of the D&A team and how external validation has helped