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In Episode 31 of Season 3, of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Taylor Culver, Founder of XenoData, where they discuss how Data Leaders can deliverable measurable value from their data strategy, which includes; Why ROI is a 'nice to have' for company executives, not a priority Innovation is what company execs and shareholders care about the most Finance leaders don’t measure impact on ROI, but IRR Organisations will happily spend on capex but not an opex, and what that means for Data Leaders Why culture and literacy aren’t the magic bullet, but good leadership is Data isn’t an asset, and if it was, why it wouldn’t be a good asset to have Why Data Leaders need to focus on adding the enterprise value of a firm If you’re being held accountable for ROI as a Data Leader then you’re already on the way out! Why Data Leaders already have everything they need to be successful The relationship between “value” and “ROI” Why innovation is what company execs and shareholders care about the most Why intangible value is far greater than the ROI you’ll generate Why finance leaders don’t measure impact on ROI, but IRR How data leaders can quantify their impact The importance of language Calculating the financial impact of data initiatives The differences between quantifying tangible and intangible benefits How ROI merely makes you more credible as a Data Leader Why organisations keep investing capital into data initiatives

In Episode 30 of Season 3, of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Bethany Lyons, Chief Product Officer at Kawa Analytics, where they discuss the current data product landscape and what actually constitutes a data product, which includes; The fascinating story of Kawa and the problems it solves Delivering Data Products versus Data Projects The differences between product management principles applied to data and data products  Why most data teams operate like an IT Service Desk and why product thinking can change that Why you should start by applying product management to data before you try to build data products Why a product management approach forces value-driven thinking How we have ‘Data Product Managers’ who aren’t doing Data Product management Why there’s a better success measure for your data initiative than usage/adoption Where you should hire your first Data Product Manager Platform versus Feature Product Managers and why they’re rarely interchangeable How data products differ from traditional products Why marketplaces will be the future of data product The relationship between self-service analytics and data as a product What actually constitutes a data product The biggest unspoken challenge in the data-mesh discussion The impact of org structure and operating model on data product success Why too many businesses try to scale their data product before establishing product market fit What data product people should do to position themselves for the wave of incoming opportunity

In Episode 29 of Season 3, of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Sally Bashuan, Executive Director; Head of Data Governance at Federated Hermes, where they discuss the role of data and analytics within ESG, which includes; The Importance of having a great Leader Why ESG is important to everyone Why companies and boards are paying attention to ESG How ESG will impact D&A teams Understanding the fundamentals of ESG from a data standpoint The current landscape of 3rd party ESG data The major challenges for Data teams The ESG data journey that Federated Hermes are on ESG Strategies V Data Strategies The role of Data Literacy within ESG The importance of ensuring everyone is talking the same language with ESG Pros and Cons of ESG Data providers How should data teams be structured to win at ESG The commercial benefits of great ESG scores Why there is more to consider than just regulation The consequences of getting it wrong Formulating an ESG Data team The future of ESG

In Episode 28 of Season 3, of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom joined by Jim Sterne, Board Chair Emeritus, Digital Analytics Association and Founder of Marketing Analytics Summit, where they discuss the rise of Generative AI and how organisations can leverage for success, which includes; How every person can have their own AI agent acting on their behalf How Generative AI has been 70 years in the making Why Generative AI will be as big as the birth of computers, the internet and the smart phone Why longtail content is now back Why Generative AI will completely change the world of SEO Why domain knowledge and branding will become the biggest commodity to success   How Generative AI will completely change your business and marketing strategy Why AI won’t take your job Why you should focus on training your entire organization to use the tool, and not focus on the people who can help you build them How companies will make Generative Ai a question machine, not an answer machine How Generative AI will change the role of Data & Analytics teams Why the strength of your data is now genuinely what gives you competitive advantage How Generative AI will drive more focus to data stewardship, governance, management, etc Why companies that offer data aggregation will see an increase in valuation Why everyone needs to learn how to use Generative AI Why Generative Ai is different than the Big Data and Data Science hypes of the past What Generative AI does to the role of Data Democratization and Data Literacy Why data literacy now becomes “business speak literacy”   Why the data dictionary becomes incredibly important Why the biggest skill now becomes; how to ask a great questions Knowing what to questions to ask or not ask Why the winners will be who can teach Generative AI to act like an analyst Why the level of playing field has been raised and what that means for raw talent

In Episode 27 of Season 3, of Driven By Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Ben Boutcher-West, Chief Digitial Officer at Connected Kerb, where they discuss how data is fuelling the EV world, which includes; How data is fuelling the EV landscape Why it's now all about user convenience Why data is the glue that will help realise a reduced carbon environment Repurposing a Data Asset into a product and how it flows into the boardroom How data is helping to inform future policy around EV investment within both the public and private sector Why the EV sector is still somewhat of the ‘wild west’ The balance between obtaining value now and being seen as the tip of the iceberg of innovation Making company targets and KPIs part of daily standards to inform value-generating activities The threefold role of any data/digital team to ensure they’re embedded into the business The role that data plays in helping shape a sustainable future How to ensure that your team is adding value The rise of the citizen developer Recommendations of people to follow for advice, hints, tips and tricks to start your own citizen developer journey The advantages and challenges of working in a start-up when it comes to Data How different environments change the role and expectation of the CDO The future of the EV sector Why there’s likely to be 50-60 EV software start-ups to be launched this year

In Episode 26 of Season 3, of Driven By Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Farouk Ferchichi, President Data & Analytics at Envestnet Inc, where they discuss how Data & Analytics is fuelling digital interconnectivity to help people live a more intelligent financial life, which includes; Being in the first playground of Chief Data Officers The disruption which means organisations should be investing heavily into data & analytics more than ever The pressure on the financial ecosystem after SVB The importance of hyper-personalisation in both service and product offering What customers now want from their financial institution The challenges that FS organizations are currently facing The Data & Analytics solutions that help address those challenges The solutions to ensure that FS firms are meeting the constantly evolving needs of their customers How they’ve built a global open-banking connectivity layer The importance of being able to show the customer a 360 view of their financial situation The creation of an anonymised national monetary database that holds roughly $5 trillion across 15-20% of US households  How Data Products are being leveraged to help people understand their current financial health The relationship between hyper-personalization and data products The benefits to the customer and the FS industry Why large FS institutions are beyond chasing their digital competitors Why the operating model is integral for organisations to take advantage of this interconnectivity opportunity Why times of crisis provide an opportunity to simplify decision-making processes The combustion of financial literacy improvements with digital savviness The three things that all FS institutions should be considering to benefit the end consumer

In Episode 25 of Season 3, of Driven By Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Danny Gardner, Social Intelligence Lead at Haleon, where they discuss how to drive business value through the use of social intelligence, which includes; A fascinating career journey Why 80% of the data from social media is just noise Why there’s information that is good to know and then there’s information that’s actionable.  The typical use cases you see for social intelligence What social measurements are valuable The differences in Social Intelligence between B2B and B2C The use case that he is the proudest of What you need to build a social intelligence capability The importance of community building The challenges that organisations face that prevent them from taking advantage of social intelligence Why more businesses aren’t actively working in the social intelligence realm The tools to use for Social Intelligence Initiatives How to execute a social intelligence strategy How different social media platforms provide different opportunities/challenges The challenges of tying it to the bottom line How the ROI has been up to 350% Why ROI doesn’t have to be positive or measurable How to use social intelligence to understand your competitors better Why social intelligence can protect your brand image/reputation 

In Episode 24 of Season 3, of Driven By Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Denholm Hesse, Chief Data Officer at BDO UK LLP, where they discuss what the first 100 days as a new CDO look like, which includes; The importance of knowing the mandate you have Understanding what table you’ve got a seat at Why you’ve got to be at the right table to be able to deliver value The 3 segments of the first 100 days Why you must be able to influence the way an organisation operates to be successful The importance of being able to operationalise the strategy The benefits and challenges of working for an LLP Being the first CDO/Data Leader for an organisation Why big tech migrations are hard to prove ROI on Why being easy to work with should be a priority Why you shouldn’t get distracted by looking for quick wins The 3 key things you need to understand before you can think about strategy and vision Why doing what you did in your last role won’t work What the ultimate job of the CDO is Why the tenure of the CDO role will increase The importance of a communications plan to share the excitement How you can gauge progress based on the questions the data team receives Why you need to be in control of the value you can create The importance of getting the whole data team to be value-focused Why it’s imperative that you know how you’re going to execute Why you should create a tangible ROI target for the data team What Business Leaders should consider before hiring a CDO Why you shouldn’t rush into a CDO role Why you should focus on the mandate, the remit and the table you’re sitting at

In Episode 23 of Season 3, of Driven By Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Mathieu Lacome, Chief Performance & Analytics Officer at Parma Calcio 1913, where they discuss how Data and Analytics is being used to deliver success in the world of football, which includes; The journey from French National Team to PSG to Parma What he figured out about Football Analytics when co-authoring his book; "Football Intelligence: A hands-on guide to maximising your investments in data" The mindset towards data in football/sports is the same as in the corporate world How sportspeople aren’t used to working with data despite being surrounded by stats Why waiting 6 months to see results doesn’t work in football The importance of building your strategic assets despite needing quick wins Why scalability is critical The key use cases where data usually helps football clubs Why data in football is all about allowing them to make strategic decisions to win matches The difference in data maturity between different football setups Why having lots of investment doesn’t mean you’ll be successful with Data & Analytics The importance of working towards a strategic goal What's included in Strategy Value Creation for football clubs Business Strategy; in football it’s winning trophies, just like in business it’s to make money The difference between a Data-Driven strategy versus a Data-Informed Strategy What does a data team in a football organisation look like The type of projects they deliver Why data in football is like most other industries - Literacy and Adoption What they’re doing to drive literacy and adoption

In Episode 22 of Season 3, of Driven By Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Vin Vashista, Founder of V Squared and a LinkedIn "Top Voice", where they discuss how to deliver tangible ROI from your data and analytics initiatives, which includes; How Vin reached 160K Followers on LinkedIn and became a “Top Voice” by writing about data monetization Why he wanted to write a book that was a single blueprint in a book; “From Data to Profit” Why 70% of data teams are NOT delivering any returns for their organisation Why genuine ROI will keep the hype and boom going   Why you need to hire differently to monetize data How to identify the first green shoots of value creation The biggest problem is that we don’t connect the technology to the strategy Why it’s imperative to get C-Suite sponsorship if you want to be successful Why you have to delvier ROI incrementally and not wait for a big bang If you let technology drive strategy you end up with more technology Why you need a prioritization framework Why the frustrations of data and C-Suite professionals is the same root cause Why you need an opportunity discovery framework that involves the whole business Why business teams know where the opportunities are but they have no way of articulating their needs Why data teams aren’t the best people to decide what the business should be doing How we confuse strategy and tactics Why we need to interrogate our data & analytics ideas like a shark tank pitch Why most C-Suite Leaders think the data team needs to be managed as it can’t be accountable for its own value creation Why you need a Data Monetization catalogue The 3 slide sales deck that Execs keep falling for The 9-figure ROI use cases Why there are so few people who can connect hype to revenue Why C-Suite executives are transfixed on ROI yet still invest in data projects that don’t deliver any ROI Why many Data Leaders are great strategic leaders yet most don’t actually lead the strategy Why to be a successful CDO you need to have come from a Data role/background, but shouldn’t be hands-on Why we should train our technical people to be more than just more technical Why moving forward people who can’t prove ROI won’t have a place in the organisation Why data teams will be the growth engine for most businesses over the next 5 years The misunderstanding that you can clean your way to valuable data   Why you need a product-first approach to data Buy-in = TRUST Why 'track record of success' is the  only way to C-Suite sponsorship

In Episode 21 of Season 3, of Driven By Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Hannah Davies, Head of Data Academy at Admiral Group, where they discuss what it takes to build an effective Data Academy, which includes;  The importance of stakeholder engagement  Why it’s always about people  The journey of building a Data Academy community of 700 people  Why a Data Academy is so much more than training  Why the first hire into the Data Academy was an engagement and content officer  Having the ability to remove silos  Why data is the answer  The force that brings together; literacy, adoption, upskilling, development, community The different ways of working with different sizes of data teams  Being a great place to work for data professionals  The importance of giving people a way to engage without forcing it on them The 5 key pillars of the Data Academy  Why the element of community is her proudest achievement  What the community is made up of  How to cater for different audiences  Why many people have “taught fear” Removing the barrier of making a business decision with data How to change mindset and build confidence  The difference between data training and data culture  Tackling culture, adoption and literacy  Things to think about if you’re in the process of building a Data Academy  Upskilling, reskilling and retention  

In Episode 20 of Season 3, of Driven By Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Tiankai Feng, Data Governance Leader and former Senior Director of Product Data Governance at Adidas, where they discuss the importance of making data more fund and how to drive results through creativity, which includes;  The importance of making Data more fun  The steep learning curve and benefits of moving into governance from analytics  Why ‘use-case thinking’ is the most exciting but difficult part of Data Governance  How Data Quality is completely subjective based on usability  Why creativity and data are often seen as a paradox  Why creativity is all about mindset  Why urgency and frustration led him to bring creativity into his data role  How the enemy of creativity is common sense  The benefits gained from bringing this level of creativity to the data team   Why there are always ways of doing things differently in Data & Analytics  The value that creativity brings to communication  How you can use unconventional formats to communicate the value of data How you can improve communication, collaboration and PR by being creative How you can increase literacy by thinking more creatively  The area it has been the most effective in the organisation  Leadership sponsorship and stakeholder advocacy  Where you should start to think about where you can be different/creative  How you can channel your inner creativity 

In Episode 19 of Season 3, of Driven By Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by CJ Anderson, one of the most recognised Data Governance advisors in the UK, where they discuss the importance of tackling Data Governance from the bottom up, which includes;  CJ’s journey from a librarian to one of the most recognised names in Data Governance Why most legal organisations' clients are far more data mature than they are Why the role of Data Governance isn’t about enforcing policies Why you want the most junior people to be having the Data Governance conversation The importance of opening the lines of communication DG is about helping to change the perception of Data The importance of the data sausage machine Why Data Governance is your Lego green mat The importance of using language that makes sense to your audience The challenges that most data-immature organisations face on their journey to data maturity How operational processes happen in silos and why cross-functional working isn’t common Why job titles matter Why you should start small and at the bottom Why data maturity is a marathon and not a sprint The two differing Data Governance approaches Why most organisations only have 1000 data points they truly care about The relevance of the Silk Road story in data stewardship Why Data Governance doesn’t work while sitting in IT

In Episode 18 of Season 3, of Driven By Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Sarah Schlobohm, Head of AI at Kubrick Group, where they discuss how not to do Machine Learning and why organisations are getting it wrong, which includes;  The frustrations as a hiring manager in the ML space  The most common mistakes organisations make when implementing AI  The importance of engineering in ML Why so many ML projects don’t make it into production  Why you need to think about the whole lifecycle and ecosystem  The different challenges from the technical side to the business side Why you don’t want to be a solution looking for a problem  Why you should fail and do so fast  The importance of knowing when to give up  Balancing the business strategy and the hype of AI  The signs that you’re not ready for AI/ML Why you should do some analysis to identify relevant use cases Why you should have the technical skills in the room before the ML decision is made  The future of ML tooling  Why the cost of ML is drastically underestimated and the impact that has on ROI  Why the amount of time and effort that should go into Data Governance is underestimated  The role of MLOps  Why there’s no substitute for domain expertise  The pros and cons of different reporting structures  AI Ethics and the examples of where things have gone wrong The practical steps that organisations can take to improve Diversity & Inclusion  Why diversity is a cultural challenge Why women shouldn’t be pushed into non-technical roles 

In Episode 17 of Season 3, of Driven By Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Colm O'Grada, Director of Data & Analytics at Tines, where they discuss the differences in building a high-impact Data & Analytics capability between a large (Google) and small (Tines) organisations (Tines), which includes;  The key differences between building teams in big organisations to small teams The journey from Google to Tines Contrast with ‘adopting’ teams in larger companies The pro's and cons of having a much smaller bench Being the first data hire in a growing organisation Why you need to be more versatile in a smaller company The importance of being hyper focussed Focusing on breadth versus depth Why trends don’t really matter for most companies What trends might mean for data workers Organisational structure of data teams The cynicism around the current tech layoffs Why being invited to meetings is a sign of someone who’s doing their job well The importance of data in times of uncertainty Why all data functions aren’t built equally Getting the balance right between generalist V specialist roles

In Episode 16 of Season 3, of Driven By Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Benny (Clive) Benford, Chief Data Officer, Formerly of Jaguar LandRover (JLR), where they discuss the journey to realising £500m in commercial value through data and analytics, which includes;  The journey of building a Data & Analytics function at JLR How they unlocked and realised £500m worth of commercial benefit and value How to ensure the data team is consistently delivering value The importance of having a process of engagement How to prioritise the workload and the value the potential return of each project How to allocate/attribute value The mission statement of creating £1m of value per team member, per year Transforming decision-making across an entire enterprise Why it’s important for senior data leadership needs to wait for the right career opportunity Why the conditions are so important to success Why most business users/leaders don’t view data as something that can provide “value” Making the business case for large-scale investment Why you need to agree on the value before you commit to any project The impact of the hype in Data & Analytics Why there are so many instances where organisations are tech-first and value-last Who’s to blame for a lack of ROI Why it’s so important to have a range of skills and not just data/technical skills Why over 1/3 of the team didn’t have a technical skillset Why everyone underestimates the level of change required to deliver value The importance of a communication strategy and how to utilise it well How they quantified that if they could deliver all projects, there would be £1.2b of value The importance of your people knowing why they’re doing the work How they built an apprenticeship programme of 700 people (15-17% of all data apprentices in UK) Where the responsibility of the data team ends Why it’s better to start without the big infrastructure project Why they received funding to invest in people but had the technology budget cut

In Episode 15 of Season 3, of Driven By Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Paul Evangelista, Chief Data Officer at United States Military Academy at West Point, where they discuss how the armed forces are using Data & Analytics to drive innovation, which includes;  The role of Data in the current US Military Academy How Data has played a role in the military since the early 1900’s The maturity journey of Data and Analytics in the US military The trackers used to measure adoption and usage of Data & Systems What the success metrics look like in that environment The importance of empowering leaders at all levels The importance of culture and executive support Why becoming 'data-centric' is second on the priority list of the US Army How the armed forces innovate Examples of how Data was used in the World Wars Why the US Government is hiring leaders from the world’s biggest tech players How the US military has a culture of innovation of change The role of data on the war in Ukraine How they calculate ROI in their field Why we need to focus on decision literacy not data literacy The gap that exists in the D&A industry

In Episode 14 of Season 3, of Driven By Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Chun Schiros, SVP of Enterprise Data Science Group at Regions Bank, where they discuss the role of responsible AI in organisational transformation, which includes;  What data innovation in a traditional industry sector looks like The role of speed in data innovation The opportunity for partnerships between traditional banks and digital banks Why scalability beyond individual use cases will be the differentiator for success with AI solutions The importance of integration to become an AI-driven organization The core challenges of achieving scalability with AI solutions The mindset shift of being able to multiply the impact The prioritization tradeoff between benefit and cost The importance of being truly customer focused The guardrails that create a balance between innovation and ethics The role of DEI in responsible AI Why failure with AI Innovation is absolutely guaranteed The excitement around AI versus the fear of things going wrong The importance of having a culture where failure is accepted Why you shouldn’t think in terms of offense versus defense Why buy-in is directly related to the ability to demonstrate how you can help the organisation to meet strategic goals   Shifting culture to adopt Artificial Intelligence Prediction on AI trends over the next 12 months

In Episode 13 of Season 3, of Driven By Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Leanne Fitzpatrick, Director of Data Science at Financial Times, and Andy McMahon, Head of MLOps at Natwest Group, where they discuss the current MLOps maturity, which includes;  The maturity of MLOps over the last 12 months Why getting ML into production is no longer the challenge Why the Ops component is now the major challenge What best practice actually looks like Why ML is more software than Data Science Why thinking about MLOps as products is helping the industry What does MLOps actually mean to business leaders The resiliency and risk elements Why design and processes are really what make or break MLOps Why we need rules of engagement Why we don’t have enough practitioner expertise The challenge of building scalable MLOps solutions The differences and similarities to software engineering Why companies will need to change their operating models to support their MLOps maturity The importance of domain expertise for successful MLOps The current tooling landscape The role of vendors play in the journey Build versus Buy Predictions for next 12-24 months

In Episode 12 of Season 3, of Driven By Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Greg Freeman, CEO and Founder of Data Literacy Academy, where they discuss how to build a data literacy programme at scale, which includes;  The reason the Data Literacy Academy exists What the business is, who it’s for and who it’s not for How they’ve raised over half a million in funding to grow the organisation Why Data is a “taught fear” in business Why everyone doesn’t need to be a Data Scientist The importance of finding a champion in the C-Suite The importance of understanding what level of literacy each individual requires The three types of literacy profiles within an organisation Why most organisations fail to realise that literacy is a Change Management initiative The spectrum of understanding of the data literacy problem Why organisations that treat data as a transformational change tend to do better Why the remit of a CDO goes beyond just data The importance of mapping the strengths of your stakeholder relationships Why the starting point for a Data Leader should be to ensure that people understand the value of data You can’t avoid data but you can certainly avoid engaging with it Why teaching hard skills is only relevant at a certain level of maturity Why data people need to improve their business literacy Why being more business literate will help data people to progress in their career The importance of saying “no”, without saying “no” and knowing what to say “no” to Why there are only two gaps; knowledge and communication Why every Data Leader needs to be a Salesperson The importance of having a PR/Communication strategy