Data Science Is A Leaver For Business Growth But Senior Leadership Needs You To Fill In The Gap
Your business and team needs a unified vision for the technology which can only come from strategy and Data Science expertise. Your mission, should you choose to accept it...
I must expand on my LinkedIn post this morning. It was part educational and part promotional. At the same time, the themes I brought up are critical to understanding the progression Data Science maturity takes. This is a roadmap I have used successfully for clients. This post fills in the details behind the LI post.
A business can have an advanced Data and Analytics Organization. Exceptional talent and capabilities. Modern infrastructure. In most clients, this was all built with the promise of growth. It was not built to achieve specific growth goals. The technology, hype, or fear of missing out drove investment.
Growth does not materialize. The business starts to ask questions and reorganize leadership. Additional budget and resource allocation is cut. Projects are scaled back.
This cycle is so common even Google and Facebook churned through it. It is ubiquitous, running through businesses who are working on their transformation strategy. Data Science is critical for growth and disconnected from value. This is when my phone rings.
I am trying to teach more Data Scientists to do what I do. Companies only realize the need for an AI Strategy after they have made significant mistakes. It must hurt for the business to make a change and bring an outsider in.
You are already on the inside. I do not actively pursue clients. There is no way for me to talk them into building out an AI Strategy unless they have gone through the pain and failure first. You can.
They are expecting someone in the Data and Analytics Organization to do in advance, what I get brought in to do after the wreck. Data Scientists expect senior leadership to handle strategy. It ends up getting dropped and that is where you can make an impact.
Senior Leadership Does Not Understand How Much Data Science Really Costs
The danger of the digital metaphors used to sell senior leaders on AI is their dual nature. Digital metaphors are effective frameworks to start educating nontechnical audiences about advanced technical concepts. Digital metaphors hide the complexity inside their frameworks.
Senior leaders feel like they have a grasp on AI when they have only been taught the basics. A partial strategy is implemented, and complete value is expected. Someone needs to be there from the beginning to complete their education.
You can prevent senior leadership from expensive mistakes.
“When someone explains a technology, then explains the opportunities it creates for the business, senior leadership hits the mute button. The business already has strategy and goals. The technology must support this year’s business to create trust.”