Developing a Data Culture – the key to realising the value that data can bring

Nearly everybody I meet says data is vitally important to the success of their organisation.  I don’t disagree, but what do they actually mean?  There is a lot in the media about the use of artificial intelligence (AI) mainly fed by the mainstream tech companies such as Google, IBM, Apple, and several others.   From my perspective this is all to the good.  Data, or more accurately the proper use of data coupled with the right technologies and algorithms is capable of truly transforming and enabling businesses to deliver on their purpose. 

AI relies on Data you can trust 

However, in a recent survey I ran there was a clear divide between the perceived importance in having state-of-the-art AI versus the need to manage data and the need to govern its use.  Most business users have a skewed and superficial understanding of AI, in great part due to its constant mention in both the news and the movies.  What they often have little knowledge or awareness of is the need to trust the data to make those trusted AI decisions.  The concept of “rubbish in, rubbish out” is understood at a high level but not what is necessarily required to address it. 

The Stumbling Block Around Effective Data Usage

In 2019 Gartner commented that “Culture and data literacy are the top two roadblocks for data and analytics leaders”.  As part of the recent survey mentioned earlier I also asked about data culture and data use.  The results were not too surprising.  In summary most respondents understand that data is critical, but few were able to point to the evidence to support the use, management, or understanding of this “critical” corporate asset. 

There are, however, a growing number of organisations that do realise the need to “up” their data awareness and overall data capabilities in order to benefit from the better use of data to power their businesses. 

The Lloyd’s of London Approach to Data Culture and Awareness 

One organisation leading this charge is Lloyd’s of London.  I recently met up with Craig Civil, Head of Data Innovation, who both created and runs their data culture and awareness programme.   

I asked him why data culture is important to his organisation.  Civil commented “It is the foundation for our digital transformation. Enhanced use of data can lead to better customer service, the creation of new products, and improved operational efficiency.” 

The Value of Data Communities

Easy to say but how do you go about making it happen?  The answer it seems is in building data communities of common interest.  Civil went on to say he first built a data community by “finding the data champions across the organisation and gathering them together virtually to share ideas and knowledge.  We made the data community the “cool gang”, the “cool” place to be, the community that all staff want to join.” 

Two (or nearer 22 in this case) brains are better than one and I asked what sort of activities and value add initiatives had been created.  There are now a series of set pieces around informal “lunch & Learns”, formal “data Master Class sessions”, and showcasing the best-in-class data analytics by third party organisations.  

Educate through Data Academies

Collectively the data community is developing into a “Data Academy” with educational data material covering a range of topics from data literacy to data science.  The list of activities also includes the running of Datathon events to set the organisation data challenges, and the partnering with innovative data organisations such as the Open Data Institute. 

I asked Civil how he would summarise the impact of his work to date, he commented “Innovative thoughts, general data awareness, and awareness of the art-of-the-possible, part influenced by bringing in external speakers to share their experiences, have flourished and allowed us to palpably move the needle regarding the use and value of data”. 

In Conclusion 

Many organisations refer to data as a corporate asset, too few actually treat data as a corporate asset.  Too few bother to educate their workforce in the use and value of data, and consequently these organisations are at risk of losing out in the competition to maximise the value that they could derive from taking a different and informed look at what they currently do.  That said, data culture and awareness programmes such as the one at Lloyd’s are gaining in frequency and popularity.  If I’m still writing about the lack of data awareness in corporates within the next five years I won’t be too surprised, but I will be disappointed.  Hopefully neither of these will be true. 

Green Kite recognises the importance of data to the London Market and the insurance market at large and has crafted a data culture and use awareness offering which can also be coupled with a “how to create a data strategy” approach that meets the needs of today’s insurance sector.   For more information please contact Karen Stanford. ([email protected])

If you want to catch up with the wider debate view our webinar in association with the MGAA on ‘How to transform your operational model using data & technology’ here