The data scientist is exactly that – a scientist. Corporates and companies that have embraced the data culture have understood that the scientist should do what they do best but it has to be married with softer skillsets that simplify the structure. Only this will help in breaking silos, adopting the data culture across key decision makers and truly unleashing the power of data and analytics in a company.
Among the various conversations taking place at the Teradata Partners Conference, one of the most discussed subjects was convincing decision makers in a company to base decisions on data than instincts or precedents or convention.
Those who are getting data right however, have stories of incremental revenues and business transformation. Much of these learnings and case-studies have relevance to India as well.
Some people are taking data to another level in solving problems. David Eagleman, a neuroscientist and author, made a valid connection between the brain and big data and how technology can be used to broaden to the human ‘umwelt’. “Our senses limit reality. We are engineered to pick up a very small slice of what is out there. Every animal has a window of reality, the umwelt, and we accept the reality as we see it.”
Eagleman stressed on how technology can create solutions for people who are unable to hear or see by expanding their ‘umwelt’, and pointed to the big picture that data truly can change everything – at times more than just business and corporate decision making.
From the business angle, two other trends that kept coming up in conversations, and where work is happening with some success, are creating a unified consumer vision and a setting up a single platform of truth.
For any company, this is the holy grail of communication and consumer engagement because once a company knows all about its consumers, previous interactions, places that a consumer is present in and where a brand can be present in the consumer journey and or consistency in service and feedback to the consumer on any query will define the ultimate brand-consumer relation. When done right, this is what will create brand love.
