The Data Strategy Show

In my 23rd episode I speak to author Doug Laney! We talk about:

1) What he's up to now

2) What is data due diligence and how it's helping Private Equity firms

3) Separating the I & T from IT

4) How Delta airlines valued their data during the pandemic to secure loans

5) Why the accountants have ignored the value of data on the balance sheet

6) Steps companies need to take from being reactive to having proactive mindsets around data

7) The difference between data and oil - it's not the new oil!

7) Why data monetisation needs to be introverted an thought about differently to generate economic value

8) Industries leading the way in monetisation

9) The approach to getting the most value out of data

10) Who should drive data monetisation

11) Trend based vs. driver based models

12) His new book

About Doug:

Douglas Laney is the data & analytics strategy innovation fellow with the consultancy, West Monroe. Formerly he was a vice president and distinguished analyst with Gartner's Chief Data Officer (CDO) research and advisory practice. He is an accomplished practitioner and recognized authority on data and analytics strategy, and is a three-time recipient of Gartner's annual Thought Leadership Award, and is regularly considered one of the top global influencers these topics. Mr. Laney specializes in and assists organizations with data monetization and valuation, open and syndicated data, data governance, and big-data based innovation. In 2001 he coined the "3Vs" of volume, velocity and variety, now commonly used in defining Big Data. He authored the book "Infonomics: Monetizing, Managing and Measuring Information as a Competitive Advantage," and lectures at leading business schools on the topic.

Mr. Laney resides in Chicago with his wife and son, where he enjoys Cubs games, biking the lakefront, cooking, theatre, competitive tennis and not-very-competitive golf.

About Samir

Samir is a data strategy and analytics leader, CEO and Founder of datazuum. He has a history of helping data executives and leaders craft and execute their data strategies. His passion for data strategy led him to launch the Data Accelerator Workshop, and host the Data Strategy Show.

After a career in both private and public sectors Samir launched the datazuum brand in 2012, with a view to working with executives to deliver data strategy at a time when data was not seen as a business asset.

Today datazuum delivers projects across both private and public sectors including: Charities, Financial Services (Banking & Insurance), Government, Housing & Construction, Law Enforcement, Logistics, Media & Publishing, Outsourcing, Postal, Retail, Telecoms, Transport and Utilities.

Samir has 20 years of international experience across Europe, North America, and Africa. Is a regular speaker at international conferences, coach / mentor, a charity fundraiser, and youth champion for Working Knowledge - supporting young people to achieve their personal and career goals in life.

Samir lives in London with his wife and daughter.

Contact: [email protected]

In my 22nd episode I speak to the super and somewhat hilarious Brian O'Neill! We talk about:

1) His background and journey to date

2) The challenges most companies have when building analytics products

3) Why design and data visualisation are not the same thing

4) Uncovering the unarticulated problems

5) How do we help developers, designers, data scientists, business teams to communicate more meaningfully, to design and build better products

6) How empathy is an enabler or design

7) Who drives / leads / motivates the design element and how design in essence is everyone's job

8) Where design goes deeper than just the product and impacts cultural change

9) Model accuracy vs. interpret-ability

10) The last mile of analytics and why the first mile is just as important

11) Prototyping and learning to build quickly without investing in technology too early "take the crayons, and not the code"

12) The "metrics toilet" and the design problem

13) Do we need a product owner for "product love"

About Brian:

He is a consulting product designer who helps companies create innovative ML and analytics solutions. His goal is to help companies leverage the innovative power of design and UX to ensure investments in data-driven software actually produce real value in a human-centered way!

About Samir

Samir is a data strategy and analytics leader, CEO and Founder of datazuum. He has a history of helping data executives and leaders craft and execute their data strategies. His passion for data strategy led him to launch the Data Accelerator Workshop, and host the Data Strategy Show.

After a career in both private and public sectors Samir launched the datazuum brand in 2012, with a view to working with executives to deliver data strategy at a time when data was not seen as a business asset.

Today datazuum delivers projects across both private and public sectors including: Charities, Financial Services (Banking & Insurance), Government, Housing & Construction, Law Enforcement, Logistics, Media & Publishing, Outsourcing, Postal, Retail, Telecoms, Transport and Utilities.

Samir has 20 years of international experience across Europe, North America, and Africa. Is a regular speaker at international conferences, coach / mentor, a charity fundraiser, and youth champion for Working Knowledge - supporting young people to achieve their personal and career goals in life.

Samir lives in London with his wife and daughter.

Contact: [email protected]

In my 21st episode I speak to the brilliant Eileen M. Vidrine Chief Data Officer at Department of the Air Force! We talk about:

1) Her background and journey to date

2) Educating leaders about the role of the CDO and it's importance

3) The challenges / opportunities of the CDO office in a military context

4) Innovation on a limited budget

5) The "data fabric" and sharing data "at the speed of mission"

6) How to educate airmen and civil servants on the benefits and uses of AI.

7) How to infuse data into a an organisation that has traditionally existed in a "command and control" structure

8) How to scale Data Governance in a complex environment and the importance of building networks

9) How to ensure stating on track with Data Strategy when there is a change of Presidents

10) The process of building the DoD Strategy

11) What's the future for data and the Air Force

About Eileen:

Eileen M. Vidrine is the Air Force Chief Data Officer, Headquarters, United States Air Force, Washington, D.C. She develops and implements strategies for enterprise data management, analytics, and digital transformation to optimize performance and drive innovation in and across all missions and operations. 

Ms. Vidrine began her government career in 1986 as an enlisted member of the U.S. Army and was commissioned in 1987 through the U.S. Army Officer Candidate School Program as a Transportation Officer. Later in her Army career, she was selected and integrated into the U.S. Army Acquisition Corps. She began her civilian career as a senior faculty member at the Joint Military Intelligence College and led the college’s technology transformation as the first Director for the Center for Educational Technologies. 

From 2006 to 2012, Ms. Vidrine served in various positions of leadership at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) culminating as the Chief of Staff for the Assistant DNI for Human Capital. In 2012, she was selected to serve as the DoD Intelligence Community Enterprise Architect assigned to the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, Human Capital Management Office (HCMO), and in 2014 assumed HCMO chief of staff responsibilities. 

In 2016, Ms. Vidrine was selected as a White House Leadership Fellow, supporting the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management. After her fellowship she was detailed to the Executive Office of the President Office of Administration. Ms. Vidrine was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in June 2018.

About Samir

Samir is a data strategy and analytics leader, CEO and Founder of datazuum. He has a history of helping data executives and leaders craft and execute their data strategies. His passion for data strategy led him to launch the Data Accelerator Workshop, and host the Data Strategy Show.

After a career in both private and public sectors Samir launched the datazuum brand in 2012, with a view to working with executives to deliver data strategy at a time when data was not seen as a business asset.

Today datazuum delivers projects across both private and public sectors including: Charities, Financial Services (Banking & Insurance), Government, Housing & Construction, Law Enforcement, Logistics, Media & Publishing, Outsourcing, Postal, Retail, Telecoms, Transport and Utilities.

Samir has 20 years of international experience across Europe, North America, and Africa. Is a regular speaker at international conferences, coach / mentor, a charity fundraiser, and youth champion for Working Knowledge - supporting young people to achieve their personal and career goals in life.

Samir lives in London with his wife and daughter.

Contact: [email protected]

In my 20th Episode I speak to the amazing and insightful John Thompson writer, technologist, influencer, educator, and just all-round good guy! We talk about:

1) His background and 37 year career highlights

2) Why he wrote the book Building Analytics Teams

3) How he foresaw Data & Analytics and it's importance for the future

4) The challenges companies are currently facing with Data & Analytics

5) Organisational rigidity and shifting mandates about Data & Analytics

6) The typical DNA of a Data & Analytics team

7) The "Artisnal" vs "Modular" data scientist

8) Where the Advanced Analytics teams sit int he organisational structure

9) How to embed Change Management into the Advanced Analytics teams

10) Prioritising the work stack to add value with Advanced Analytics

11) What processes / frameworks the Advanced Analytics teams use to drive innovation

12) The traits that data scientists need to improve their role

13) The expectation of failure as a data scientist

14) The "data commons" or "data dividend" and how it will disrupt business models and give power to the people

15) The application and advantages of data monetisation

16) Explainable AI and it's reality - turning the black box into a glass box

17) Where the data industry is heading

About John:

John is an international technology executive with over 30 years of experience in the business intelligence and advanced analytics fields. Currently, John is responsible for the global Advanced Analytics & Artificial Intelligence team and efforts at CSL.  Prior to CSL, John was an Executive Partner at Gartner, where he was management consultant to market leading companies in the areas of digital transformation, data monetization and advanced analytics. Before Gartner, John was responsible for the advanced analytics business unit of the Dell Software Group.  

John is the author of the new book – Analytics Teams: Leveraging analytics and artificial intelligence for business improvement. The book was published in June 2020 and outlines how to hire and manage high performance advanced analytics teams. The book outlines how to engage with executives and senior managers. How to select and undertake analytics projects that change and improve how a business operates.  

John is co-author of the bestselling book – Analytics: How to win with Intelligence, which debuted on Amazon as the #1 new book in Analytics in 2017. Analytics is a book that guides non-technical executives through the journey of creating an analytics function, funding initiatives and driving change in business operations through data and applied analytical applications.  

John's technology expertise includes all aspects of advanced analytics and information management including – descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analytics, artificial intelligence, analytical applications, deep learning, cognitive computing, big data, data warehousing, business intelligence systems, and high performance computing.  

One of John’s primary areas of focus and interest has been to create innovative technologies to increase the value derived by organizations around the world.  John has built start-up organizations from the ground up and he has reengineered business units of Fortune 500 firms to reach their potential. He has directly managed and run - sales, marketing, consulting, support and product development organizations.  

He is a technology leader with expertise and experience spanning all operational areas with a focus on strategy, product innovation, growth and efficient execution.

Contact details for Samir

LinkedIn: Samir Sharma

Email: [email protected]

website: www.datazuum.com

In my 19th Episode I speak to the incredible and enigmatic Bill Schmarzo innovator, educator, influencer and the Dean of Big Data.  We talk about:

1) The origin of the "Dean of Big Data!

2) How organisations identify sources of value creation with data

3) Why the "pre-work" or "foundations" are the investments companies need to forge at the beginning of their data strategies

4) Why Design Thinking is important in the process of data transformation

5) Why there is a need to marry Design Thinking with Data Science

6) Why data initiatives die of passive / aggressive behaviour

7) Why culture is so hard and why exec management need to let go and get out of the way

8) Why command and control structures continue to impede transformation

9) What is value engineering and why it's important in the process of data and business transformation

10) Why companies need to do "proof of value" before committing to use cases

11) Why the economics of learning are more powerful than the economies of scale

12) What is "orphaned analytics" and how companies need to avoid this analytics debt

13) Why looking at the Tesla FSD model should be the model and inspiration for data initiatives

14) Why organisation improvisation leads to an empowerment of teams

15) Why swirls are better than boxes for successful collaboration, innovation and successful outcomes

16) Why there needs to be a person in the company focused solely on "data monetisation!

17) Why data will be the catalyst for economic growth in the 21st Century

18) What is the "analytics chasm" and why does it exist

19) The birth of "nano economics" for data

20) How to optimise the machine - human interface

About Bill:

The “Dean of Big Data,” I bring a business-first approach to helping organizations leverage advanced analytics and data science to uncover the customer, product and operational insights buried in the organization’s data that power digital transformation.

In my 18th Episode I speak to the awesome Ravit Jain Senior Content Marketing Editor at Packt.  We talk about:

1) His journey and career to date

2) How to create a data community or any form of community on LinekdIn

3) Writing research reports and effective storytelling

4) The survivability of books

5) Trending topics in data today: Quantum Computing, AI and Data Storytelling

6) Content and where to start on your branding journey "Content is Kingdom"

7) What you need to think about if there is an author inside of you

About Ravit:

Ravit is the host of "The Ravit Show". He closely works with authors to get the visibility of their books globally and collaborate with influencers, tier 1 websites, and podcast hosts to provide the best content for their channels!  He is the first committee member of Story By Data company, closely working with Kate Strachnyi ♕ to amplify her courses and reach the right audience.

About Samir:

Samir is a data strategy and analytics leader, CEO and Founder of datazuum. He has a history of helping data executives and leaders craft and execute their data strategies. His passion for data strategy led him to launch the Data Accelerator Workshop, and host the Data Strategy Show.

After a career in both private and public sectors Samir launched the datazuum brand in 2012, with a view to working with executives to deliver data strategy at a time when data was not seen as a business asset. 

Today datazuum delivers projects across both private and public sectors including: Charities, Financial Services (Banking & Insurance), Government, Housing & Construction, Law Enforcement, Logistics, Media & Publishing, Outsourcing, Postal, Retail, Telecoms, Transport and Utilities.

Samir has 20 years of international experience across Europe, North America, and Africa. Is a regular speaker at international conferences, coach / mentor, a charity fundraiser, and youth champion for Working Knowledge - supporting young people to achieve their personal and career goals in life.

Samir lives in London with his wife and daughter.

Contact details for Samir

LinkedIn: Samir Sharma

Email: [email protected]

website: www.datazuum.com

In my 17th episode I speak to the fantastic and brilliant Andrew Wright Senior Manager, Data Science at Walt Disney Parks, Experiences and Products.

We talk about:

1) His data journey and career

2) The attributes and skills data scientists require to be effective

3) "Insightful Thinking" and why it's important

4) Connecting theme parks, hotels and customer data to drive improved customer experience

5) Driving value from orchestrating different teams, different kinds of data and achieving business objectives

6) How teams in a complex environment like Disney, operate effectively to deliver valuable analytical solutions

7) Why insight doesn't come from data, but from a complex ecosystem

8) Analytics use cases and how Disney has driven value or efficiencies during Covid-19

9) The "Art of Storytelling" as a Data Scientist

10) Data literacy and how you can minimise it and improve capabilities

11) How innovation is captured and nurtured at Disney - the definition of Innovation at Disney "Changing before you have to"

12) How the data scientists position will evolve in the future

About Andrew:

Andrew Wright manages the Walt Disney World’s Commercial Strategy data science team. In his 14 years with the company, he has also supported marketing and operations analytics. 

Prior to joining Disney, Andrew worked in financial services and consulting firms, where he learned the value of performant storytelling backed with data. He has been selected to present at several Disney Data & Analytics conferences, and is often invited to speak to corporate & non-profit organizations about the value of analytics. 

Holding an undergraduate degree in Foreign Affairs, as well as an MBA and a Master’s of Applied Science, Andrew enjoys finding non-obvious solutions for businesses’ biggest decision making challenges.

About Samir:

Samir is a data strategy and analytics leader, CEO and Founder of datazuum. He has a history of helping data executives and leaders craft and execute their data strategies. His passion for data strategy led him to launch the Data Accelerator Workshop, and host the Data Strategy Show.

After a career in both private and public sectors Samir launched the datazuum brand in 2012, with a view to working with executives to deliver data strategy at a time when data was not seen as a business asset. 

Today datazuum delivers projects across both private and public sectors including: Charities, Financial Services (Banking & Insurance), Government, Housing & Construction, Law Enforcement, Logistics, Media & Publishing, Outsourcing, Postal, Retail, Telecoms, Transport and Utilities.

Samir has 20 years of international experience across Europe, North America, and Africa. Is a regular speaker at international conferences, coach / mentor, a charity fundraiser, and youth champion for Working Knowledge - supporting young people to achieve their personal and career goals in life.

Samir lives in London with his wife and daughter.

Contact details for Samir

LinkedIn: Samir Sharma

Email: [email protected]

website: www.datazuum.com

In my 16th episode I speak the inimitable Peter Aiken Associate Professor of Information Systems and owner of Anything Awesome. 

We talk about:

1) Data Leadership

2) Aligning data strategy to business strategy and the importance of doing it

3) Stripping down and defining data strategy

4) The theory of constraints, the data deficit and fixing the gaps.

5) Treating data as an asset

6) Data isn't the new oil but the new soil

7) Building the foundations and structural integrity of data strategy

8) People, process and technology - and guess what tech is only 5% of that triumvirate

9) Enterprise Data Executive vs. Chief Data Officer

10) Reporting structures and the C-Suite overloaded with new roles

11) The qualities a business person needs being appointed to a business role

12) Defining Data Literacy through Maszlows hierarchy

13) Culture and data - why we need to treat it like a 12-step programme

14) The future of data, data scientists and data engineers

About Peter:

Peter Aiken, is an acknowledged Data Management (DM) authority, an Associate Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, now back in the saddle as President DAMA International a 30 year ongoing love affair, and Associate Director of the MIT International Society of Chief Data Officers.

For more than 35 years, Peter has learned from working with hundreds of data management practices in 30 countries including some of the world's most important.

Among his 10 books are the first on CDOs (the case for data leadership), the first describing the monetization data for profit/good, and the first on modern strategic data thinking.

Peter also hosts the longest running DM webinar series (hosted by dataversity.net). From 1999 (before Google, before data was big, and before data science), he founded Data Blueprint, a consulting firm that helped more than 150 organizations leverage data for profit, improvement, competitive advantage, and operational efficiencies.  His latest venture is Anything Awesome.

About Samir:

Samir is a data strategy and analytics leader, CEO and Founder of datazuum. He has a history of helping data executives and leaders craft and execute their data strategies. His passion for data strategy led him to launch the Data Accelerator Workshop, and host the Data Strategy Show.

After a career in both private and public sectors Samir launched the datazuum brand in 2012, with a view to working with executives to deliver data strategy at a time when data was not seen as a business asset. 

Today datazuum delivers projects across both private and public sectors including: Charities, Financial Services (Banking & Insurance), Government, Housing & Construction, Law Enforcement, Logistics, Media & Publishing, Outsourcing, Postal, Retail, Telecoms, Transport and Utilities.

Samir has 20 years of international experience across Europe, North America, and Africa. Is a regular speaker at international conferences, coach / mentor, a charity fundraiser, and youth champion for Working Knowledge - supporting young people to achieve their personal and career goals in life.

Samir lives in London with his wife and daughter.

Contact details for Samir

LinkedIn: Samir Sharma

Email: [email protected]

website: www.datazuum.com

In my 15th episode I speak to Robert Vane Co-founder of Q6FSA & Enterprise Data Architect. We talk about:

1) His journey through through data and business

2) Self executing business models

3) Standardisation vs Tribalism

4) Disjoint unions and ow to build sustainable business models

5) Event driven processes and ontologies

6) Business vs Technical language and constraints

7) Semantics vs. Pragmatics

About Robert:

Robert Vane is the co-founder of the Q6FSA Method for Global Information Management and the creator of the G-TEA Domain Architect platform for full enterprise scale model driven enterprise architecture, a freelance full enterprise scope enterprise architect “with over 25 years experience of getting it all wrong, now dedicated to solving the foundational root causes of failure within the information management space and getting it all right.”

Robert is a passionate advocate and innovator for no-code model executable business systems engineering based on business language fundamentals.

About Samir:

Samir is a data strategy and analytics leader, CEO and Founder of datazuum. He has a history of helping data executives and leaders craft and execute their data strategies. His passion for data strategy led him to launch the Data Accelerator Workshop, and host the Data Strategy Show.

After a career in both private and public sectors Samir launched the datazuum brand in 2012, with a view to working with executives to deliver data strategy at a time when data was not seen as a business asset. 

Today datazuum delivers projects across both private and public sectors including: Charities, Financial Services (Banking & Insurance), Government, Housing & Construction, Law Enforcement, Logistics, Media & Publishing, Outsourcing, Postal, Retail, Telecoms, Transport and Utilities.

Samir has 20 years of international experience across Europe, North America, and Africa. Is a regular speaker at international conferences, coach / mentor, a charity fundraiser, and youth champion for Working Knowledge - supporting young people to achieve their personal and career goals in life.

Samir lives in London with his wife and daughter.

Contact details for Samir

LinkedIn: Samir Sharma

Email: [email protected]

website: www.datazuum.com

In my 14th episode I speak to Drew Smith VP International Institute for Analytics. We talk about:

1) His journey through through data and business

2) The resurgence of Data Strategy

3) Making the leap from the business side to driving analytics at IKEA

4) Closing the gap: how business and data teams have grown apart

5) His advice to Retailers for 2021 and what's important from a supply chain analytics perspective

About Drew:

With close to 20 years of experience, Drew has worked on both the business side of analytics, leveraging insights for business performance, and on the delivery side of analytics driving the use of enterprise analytics. As the Vice President of IIA’s Analytics Leadership Consortium he engages with analytics thought leaders and top analytics practitioners in the IIA Community to deliver impactful meetings and valuable content, helping to keep analytics leaders in the lead.

Before joining IIA, he led the data analytics and governance team at IKEA’s global headquarters in Europe. He made heavy use of analytics in various leadership roles across the IKEA value chain in both the United States and Europe. He credits his business success largely to his early and avid adoption of analytics to help drive his decisions and is passionate about helping other organizations do the same. He received his MBA from Penn State and his undergraduate degree from Boston University.

About Samir:

Samir is a data strategy and analytics leader, CEO and Founder of datazuum. He has a history of helping data executives and leaders craft and execute their data strategies. His passion for data strategy led him to launch the Data Accelerator Workshop, and host the Data Strategy Show.

After a career in both private and public sectors Samir launched the datazuum brand in 2012, with a view to working with executives to deliver data strategy at a time when data was not seen as a business asset. 

Today datazuum delivers projects across both private and public sectors including: Charities, Financial Services (Banking & Insurance), Government, Housing & Construction, Law Enforcement, Logistics, Media & Publishing, Outsourcing, Postal, Retail, Telecoms, Transport and Utilities.

Samir has 20 years of international experience across Europe, North America, and Africa. Is a regular speaker at international conferences, coach / mentor, a charity fundraiser, and youth champion for Working Knowledge - supporting young people to achieve their personal and career goals in life.

Samir lives in London with his wife and daughter.

Contact details for Samir

LinkedIn: Samir Sharma

Email: [email protected]

website: www.datazuum.com