It is now widely acknowledged that the best way to utilize the wealth of data at organizations’ disposal is by democratizing it. By making it available to all employees in a format they can understand, you empower them to put it at the heart of their day-to-day decision making, allowing them to back up their hunches without having to go through the data science team. This means both quicker answers for business users and more time for data scientists to focus on more technical problems. This makes the Organization agiler and data scientists' work more challenging, providing a better culture more likely to attract qualified talent over the competition.
At the upcoming Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit, Jason Perkins, Head of Data & Analytics architecture at BT, and Jason Howell, a data science IT unit lead at BT, will discuss how they successfully democratized data science at the telecom giant. Jason Perkins' role combines the business information aspects of a Chief Data Officer with the technical ability of an Enterprise Data & Analytics Architect, while Jason Howell's work primarily centers on data management and data warehousing, with the past 2 years spent launching a new data science unit. Between them, they have more than forty years at BT working in Data and Data Warehousing.
We sat down with them ahead of their presentations at the Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit, which takes place in London this March 21–22.
What first sparked your interest in analytics?
Initially drawn to data analysis as part of problem-solving, how we can better communicate to our customers and understanding more about our business. This was the start of a roller coaster ride as Analytics has continued to evolve. With the introduction of big data, data science and more, we are arguably in the most exciting times for the field.
How important is establishing a data-driven culture? What do you think is the most important thing companies can do to instil one?
There is a wealth of information demonstrating the importance of a data-driven culture and its impact on customer and business performance. Data leadership is important in championing the value of a data-informed culture. Also, as part of our ‘continuous learning’ culture at BT, we are leveraging our academy to create a community for our data citizens, including investment in both data career and learning pathways.
