Driven by Data: The Podcast

In Episode 39 of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Errol Koolmeister, Head of AI Foundation at H&M, where they discuss how to successfully productionize Artificial Intelligence at scale, which includes:

• Why they established the foundation as an external function and then integrated it into the business
• What the companies that are succeeding with AI are doing versus the ones who aren’t
• Why you should focus on incremental value delivery as early as possible
• The 3 key factors for scale: Value, Feasibility, Reusability
• Why you should start with the most flexible use case, not the best or most valuable
• The importance of creating infrastructure that supports AI
• How they returned all of the investment in AI within 12 months
• The importance of having clear ownership within the business
• Why Reusability is the key to success to scale AI
• Why the POV has replaced the POC
• Merging Long-term thinking with short-term gains
• How upskilling initiatives across the organization aided the evolution of AI
• How to get the balance of skills within your AI team
• What they did to create a compelling brand/narrative in the marketplace

In Episode 38 of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Christina Stathopopolous, Analytics Lead at Google, where they discuss how to build your personal brand to stand out in the crowded Data & Analytics market, which includes:

• Getting hired by Google
• The importance of positivity and persistence
• Why building a brand is overlooked and not taken an advantage of
• How to build a personal brand despite being an introvert
• Why consistency is key
• Why you should look at this as an investment in yourself
• The importance of contributing to the community
• Don’t try to learn all of the "hard" skills
• The importance of SQL in Data Science
• Take every opportunity to present in public
• The difference between, communication, people and commercial skills
• Why sharpening your commercial skills is beneficial even if you don’t need them just yet
• How we can tackle the gender imbalance within the world of Data
• Why she promotes the 'Book a Week Challenge'

In Episode 37 of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Cindi Howson, Chief Data Strategy Officer at ThoughtSpot, where they discuss how the CDO can create a data culture, which includes:

• 85% fail to achieve the full benefit, not fail full stop
• Only 14% of organisations are measuring ROI
• How to measure ROI: Leading Indicators V Lagging Indicators
• 61% of Data Leaders suggest that culture is the biggest barrier to creating a truly data-driven organisation
• 85% of boards have expectations to become data-driven
• The relationship between leadership styles and culture, and the success of Data & Analytics initiatives
• The evolution of the CDAO
• The differences in achieving cultural change between leaders and users
• So What – what’s in it for me?
• The perfect environment to create a truly data-driven culture
• Two sides of the same coin: The relationship between Technology and Culture
• Does it matter where the CDAO reports?
• The correlation between the team you build and the culture you create
• The relationship required for a CDO with other members of the C-suite

In Episode 36 of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Adrian Kingwell, CEO of Mezzo Labs, where they discuss what the future of insight looks like and if we've seen the death of the dashboard, which includes:

• His journey into running a successful Digital Analytics business
• How staff churn was his biggest problem in the early days
• Why actionable insights are the crown jewels of analytics
• The importance of the presentation of insights
• Why we spend too much time on Data Visualisation
• How there is something missing “in the final mile” which makes insight actionable
• How to be more data-driven by getting insight immediately to the point of action
• Why self-serve is only as successful as the appetite to find insight
• Push V Pull Culture
• The Analytics Exoskeleton – delivering insights that empower individuals to make data-driven decisions
• Why shift from traditional consultancy to a product-based business
• Have we seen the death of the dashboard?
• What the future of insights looks like
• Why we should create a warehouse of insights that act as a playbook for stakeholders

In Episode 35 of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Caroline Worboys, Data, Digital & AI NED, where they discuss why the Data, Analytics and AI industry needs independent NED's, which includes:

• Why we need to be creative as well as analytical
• The need to be outcome-focused but understanding how you'll get there
• The Art of the Possible: Why business leaders often want us to provide insight to identify the opportunity
• The role of corporate bias
• Why budget ownership can create constraints for CDO’s
• The golden question: What do you wish you could predict?
• The importance of keeping it high-level for as long as possible
• The role structure can play on how successful we are
• The importance of helping business leaders prioritise
• What it takes to be a successful NED  
• The benefit of being free from day-to-day constraints
• Why you reap what you sow with regards to culture
• Why context is so important even at the execution level

In Episode 34 of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Graeme McDermott, Chief Data Officer at Tempcover, where they discuss one of the most debated topics in the industry right now; how hands-on should a data leader be, which includes;

• Defining what we mean by “hands-on”
• The two types of Data Leader: Hands-on V Agent of Change
• Why being hands-on will get you buy-in and credibility from D&A teams
• The benefits of remaining hands-on
• The role that scale plays in making the decision
• Why the industry needed that agent of change
• What areas outside of “technical" or “strategic” should Data Leaders focus on
• The relationship between Data Maturity & Data Leadership
• How to quantify "better questions" and why we need to ask them
• Why Data Literacy is a journey and not a destination
• Why context is important to provide solutions
• Utilising nudge theory and the 5 Why’s
• How to develop diverse friendly recruitment practices
• Is Agile fit for purpose in Data & Analytics
• How much time is split between being hands-on versus strategic

In Episode 33 of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Marie Hense, Data & Product Strategy Director at Lumina Intelligence where they discuss what needs to be considered when acquiring data, which includes:

• The importance of providing the right data, in the right format for every kind of data user
• The importance of using data to contextualise your own data
• Why it’s imperative to think about how you’ll integrate external data
• Whether purchasing data will be worth the investment
• How many organisations often purchase the same data sets over and over again
• Why having good Data Management makes your investment go further
• How silo’s within an organisation can increase the money that’s spent on data acquisition
• Why organisations spend money on acquiring data even though they’ve already got it internally
• The relationship between wastage, investment and data management
• What you need to understand to make sure your data gets used properly
• How the format of data has implications on usage and storage

In Episode 32 of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Andrew Burgess, Founder of Greenhouse AI, where they discuss how to build an AI strategy to get people onto that journey, which includes:

• Why you need an AI strategy
• Why it’s important to try and make AI boring for people
• What AI can’t do but what everyone thinks it is
• What most organisations are using AI to achieve
• The importance of understanding AI maturity before committing to it
• The framework in how to talk about AI to business leaders
• The correlation between Data Maturity and AI
• The mentality leap required to move from Analytics to AI
• Why there are often 40-50 opportunities for AI
• Data Strategy versus AI Strategy
• How to prioritise AI implementation
• The risk of over dependence on AI
• Why most people give AI more credibility than it’s due
• How to figure out the art of the possible
• The process of developing an AI strategy
• Why you need to think big but act small
• Why organisations fall into the never-ending proof of concept loop
• The growth of MLOps

In Episode 31 of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Lynne Bailey, Chief Data Officer at KPMG, where they discuss why the industry needs a taxonomy, which includes:

• Why we can’t assume that just because we are talking about the same word, that you mean the same thing
• Why we need a Data Taxonomy
• How she is going about building one and where to start
• The typical terms that are often confused
• How to validate definitions across the organisation
• The need for segmentation within Data Literacy
• The benefits of building a taxonomy
• Why we still require some optionality
• The need for an industry culture that creates acceptance around not knowing what these terms mean
• Could our industry thought-leaders help to create standards around terminology and definitions?
• The relationship between Data Mapping and Data Literacy and Data Culture
• How AI/ML should be the ambition for all organisations but not many are ready for that
• The cyclical resurgence of Data Management
• How to balance the foundational aspects alongside innovation 
• The importance of how you articulate the significance of Data Governance

In Episode 30 of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Daryl D'Cruz, Founder & Director at Hexdon, where they discuss how creativity and literacy play their part in humanising data, which includes:

• Why people are an asset just as much as data & technology
• The importance of the storytelling narrative
• Why we must make data more relatable to the masses
• The Data Literacy spectrum
• The role that Learning Management Systems can play within organisations
• The importance of creativity to change the mindset
• Translating 'Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs' into Humanising Data
• Why your Data & Analytics team should spend time on the front-line
• The relationship between Culture, Literacy, Creativity and Maturity