Last Thursday the BIMA data council hosted its inaugural event to explore the key data challenges faced today by businesses and how well they are being addressed. Headed by Anna Gevorgyan, Senior Director of Strategy and Operational Excellence at Expedia Group, several interesting themes were discussed:
- Data Literacy Levels Critical Success Factor for Interpreting Data:
A company must be data literate before it can be data-driven; One member of the panel even citing that 68% of the C-suite are data illiterate.
Gartner defines data literacy as having “the ability to read, write and communicate data in context, including an understanding of data sources and constructs, analytical methods and techniques applied – and the ability to describe the use case, application and resulting value.”
- Wariness of AI Hype:
This followed on closely from the previous theme of data literacy where many companies have had bad experiences with AI tools, mainly caused by the lack of expertise on getting them up and running on the client-side.
Ideally, vendors would offer the follow-on service of training and implementation on how to use said tools however they tend to end up “running away with the cheque”. One member of the panel stated that they are “uncomfortable with the hype” and that vendors are “selling a dream with data and the result is disappointing”.
- Risks of Skipping the What and Why:
Relating back again to data literacy and hype around AI, many companies are seeking the shiniest new AI tools but lack the end user or knowledge on client-side to translate outputs into meaningful actions. The trend now appears to be that companies are data-rich but insight-poor.
It certainly feels like caution is starting to surround the AI hype and that the true challenge is having the right expertise in place to properly implement these systems, there is a definite disconnect between the tools and the actions output from them. Overall, a great first data council meeting and we at Lynchpin eagerly await the next!
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