Think of technology as a wrench

One leading CDO at a major US Bank used a great analogy to communicate this idea. She told me that the technology should be thought of as a wrench, which can be used to fix and improve your car. Just buying a wrench won’t make any difference to your car though; it is simply a tool which enables you, or a mechanic, to get the desired result. Comparatively, when working with data you need the right technological tools, but management must understand that it is people who work with data and ultimately determine its usefulness to the company.

Without ensuring executives grasp this, maintaining the level of support that you enjoy, and worked so hard to achieve, may become an impossible task. We all recognise the importance of this senior management buy-in and so ensuring it remains high must be a top priority. Failure to correct the mistaken view of technology as the solution also leads to the danger that data management will be seen as a one-off project, something to be completed and finished by purchasing a new piece of software, rather than an on-going process which requires a sustained commitment across different teams and levels to really provide value to the business.

Do the 'PowerPoint Approach' (PPT)

A CDO in the healthcare industry reinforced this, saying that “people are the most important part of what we (CDOs) do” and that data roles are all about empowering people to use data-driven decision making, and more importantly, execution. He claims the best approach to avoiding becoming a short-term CDO is use the PowerPoint approach (PPT), that is “people first, process second, technology third”.

Communicating the idea that data is all about the people who use it, not the technology they use, is clearly a fundamental factor in whether we will succeed in making our companies truly data-centric, or fall behind in the data race. But how can we achieve this?

Communicating the idea that data is all about the people who use it, not the technology they use, is clearly a fundamental factor in whether we will succeed. 

The key to success here is all about education. As the lead for Analytics at a major retail company explained at one of our recent events, making sure business leaders develop a level of knowledge allows them to understand the data journey you are taking them on, rather than being confused as to the approach utilised to get your destination, or even where the intended  destination is.

The more your executives understand about how data is acquired, managed and analysed the less they will think of ‘IT Solutions’ as the solution to data issues, and the more they will understand that investing in people, processes, culture, and long-term strategy is required rather than solely technological advances. Ultimately, effectively explaining this will lead to greater levels of understanding, and crucially support, for your work in building your company’s data capabilities.

By James Bowater:

James Bowater is Content Director US/Europe for the CDO Forum. James is currently producing our first sector specific events, organizing both CDO Forum, Financial Services, and CDO Forum, Government. By consulting senior data leaders in both fields, he will facilitate industry discussion and debate to address the biggest challenges and opportunities currently faced by the field. Both events launch in June 2016, on US East Coast. For enquiries email: james.bowater@coriniumintelligence.com