Jul 29, 2022
Keeping Up With Data #93
5 minutes for 5 hours’ worth of reading
“More than nine out of ten respondents feel that the primary challenges to becoming data-driven are due to culture, people, and process issues,” say Thomas H. Davenport and Randy Bean in the foreword to the Data and AI leadership executive survey 2022.
And while there is a lot to celebrate — majority of their blue chip respondents has appointed a CDAO, most are achieving returns on the data and AI investments and plan to invest more — not many have created a data-driven organisation.
The two thought leaders don’t stop at this conclusion. They offer four examples (shown in the image above) of what to do.
Smaller organisations (not the Fortune 1000 surveyed) are easier to be influenced due to their size. On the other hand, the data leadership is usually just a few people and they need to wear many hats. Organisational change is one of them.
Senior executives can support the data leaders by not only promoting the data-driven decision-making. They should practice it too.
What else have I read this week? An essay on the competitive advantage of data, and an article combining my two interests — data and cycling.
- Do data-driven companies actually win? Obviously, being data-driven is better than not. But does being data-driven give you an edge when competing against companies that are more efficient, decisive, have more experience, or better instincts? Using data won’t make every single decision better. The business world is too complicated. Or we can make the right decision but simply get unlucky. Similarly to card counting — using data for decisions is a long game. The more decisions based on data we make, the better we’ll do. We only make a couple of key strategic decisions, which is why great instincts and experience are important too. As always, being data-driven helps, but don’t follow the data blindly. (Benn Stancil)
- Tour De France’s Digital Twin Tracks Racers, Portapotties, Motorized Strawberries: The recently finished Tour de France is not only a major sports event (especially for the passionate cyclists among us), it’s also an organisational masterpiece. Imagine a show with dozens of participants, hundreds of team staff, thousands of organisers and journalists, and millions of viewers taking place on the road. Always on move. How to organise the start and finish areas? How to manage logistics? Data and technology are key component of the solutions. NTT has created a digital twin of the race using IoT sensors and other technologies. The digital twin provides the staff and journalist with real-time information about the race, and allow organisers to run simulations for optimal set up of the finish area each day. (Forbes)
I was home alone last weekend and spent it on my bike. I don’t even remember when was the last time I managed to do 330km and 8800m in two days. But as great as it was I can’t wait to spend this one with my family again.
