That data analytics is evolving from an MIS/IT background to one that is highly commercial and leading the strategy of the company isn’t in question. Already, organisations are understanding their customers with greater depth and detail, enabling them to support customer needs on a more proactive basis, designing better products for further reach and business return. But in Australia, is data analytics a hype or reality?
We caught up with Elizabeth Moore, Director of Research, Insights and Analytics at Telstra and Yuval Marom, Head of Analytics and Data Services at iSelect to ask about the current state of play in their organisations and how they see the analytics agenda evolving in Australia.
CAO Forum: What would you consider as the biggest challenge faced by CAOs/analytics leaders today?
Elizabeth Moore: Certainly the pace of change in the industry. Also the challenge of accessing talent.
Yuval Marom: Sifting through the “Big Data” hype and ensuring organisations are focusing on the right thing, which is building teams of talented analysts and data scientists, rather than looking for the best software to buy.
CAO Forum: In what ways have big data and analytics already impacted the industry that you work in, and how do you think it will continue to influence it?
Elizabeth Moore: Our industry has been using data and analytics to fuel decisions for decades, new tools and capabilities have increased the sophistication and breadth of the business problems that we can tackle with analytics.
Yuval Marom: Data and analytics has had a massive impact in the digital space, particularly around marketing and recommendation systems. Organisations are now starting to understand the “N=1” principle of targeting individual customers as opposed to segments.
Organisations are now starting to understand the “N=1” principle of targeting individual customers as opposed to segments.
CAO Forum: In your opinion, do people in your organisation appreciate the value of analytics in driving decision-making?
Elizabeth Moore: How would you rate your data driven culture? Absolutely, we’re an analytically minded organisation from the board down.
Yuval Marom: I’m fortunate to be in an organisation which absolutely appreciates the value of analytics, and uses it for decision making constantly.
CAO Forum: What strategies are you implementing to encourage your internal workforce to engage with analytics and what tactics are you using to implement this strategy?
Elizabeth Moore: We have just invested heavily in a ‘Future Marketer’ training program to get the whole team within the CMO digitally and analytically savvy.
Yuval Marom: The biggest challenge is addressing the centralised vs distributed analytics balance. Although we have a decent sized analytics team, we obviously can’t everywhere and there will be pockets in the organisations where people want to do their own analytics. The challenge is to ensure that, as a whole, the analytics discipline is efficient and consistent. Some tactics around that include reminding stakeholders of the capabilities of the team and the services we provide, and helping them ensure we’re asking the right questions and not going down rabbit holes!
CAO Forum: How do you see the role of Chief Analytics Officer evolving in the next 3-5 years?
Elizabeth Moore: I would say around developing capability and teams which serve both internal and external customers. There will be a greater emphasis on people and capability development. This will see a continued close partnership with the CIO.
Yuval Marom: I think another question is how does it evolve alongside the Chief Data Officer and Chief Data Scientist roles, and the answer depends on the maturity and structure of the organisation. I think along the journey, while we may not see these roles existing explicitly to begin with, but we’ll start to see data departments forming, which are independent and separate from the traditional departments, such as IT and Marketing.
Clearly there are obstacles on the journey to data-centricity but organisation are becoming increasingly ‘digitally and analytically savvy’. Where your organisation currently sits and how you take it to the next level are key themes at the Chief Analytics Officer Forum, 5-6 April in Sydney. Liz and Yuval, alongside other leading figures in the data and analytics community will be sharing further thoughts and insight to assist you in your journey.
Elizabeth Moore is Director of Research, Insights and Analytics at Telstra. Liz has 20 years in industry, is the President of AMSRS (Australia’s market research society) and enjoys spending time with family, choral singing and snow skiing. Impressively Liz has also performed at the Sydney Opera House!
Yuval Marom is Head of Analytics and Data Services at iSelect.
Yuval has over 12 years in industry and is also the founder and co-organiser of the Data Science Melbourne meetup group, and the Melbourne R User Group. Yuval loves to travel and has heard that life expectancy increases with each coffee per day you have. We’re not entirely sure on that one, more data required.
