Grant Thornton’s Managing Director of Innovation joins AP Now’s Mary Schaeffer on this episode of the AP Now podcast. The topic for this discussion is metrics, and more specifically, common misconceptions about metrics and data analytics.  He shares with the audience a little of how he ended up as a Managing Director of Innovation. His story starts with his fascination with computers harking back to the days when a tape drive was used to get the information into the computer itself. Obviously, his tools are much more sophisticated today. That being said, as you will note in this conversation, Excel will still play a pivotal role for many.

He then identifies what he considers to be the three biggest obstacles most organizations have when it comes to getting their employees to use data analytics. Many people have a basic fear of trying to use analytics so they throw up their hands and don’t start. He discusses how it is not critical that someone be a programmer in order to create insightful routines for data analytics. In fact, he notes he is not a programmer, but a CPA. Nor is it necessary to be a big data expert.

The podcast closes with a discussion over which is the biggest roadblock to meaningful use of analytics: People or Technology. He comes down firmly on the side of People and discusses why this is and how to overcome it.

Host: Mary Schaeffer (https://www.ap-now.com/)

Guest: Rich Lanza (https://www.grantthornton.com/)

Sponsor: Stampli (https://www.stampli.com/apnow/)

Credit: Music: https://www.purple-planet.com