More Data Does Not Mean More Intelligence or Impact — Philips Data Delivery Team Leader, Analytics, Insights and Automation

Shruti Sharma, Data Delivery Team Leader, Analytics, Insights, and Automation at Phillips, speaks with Todd Foley, Chief Digital Officer and CISO at Lydonia, in a video interview about keeping teams agile, the gap between insights and impact, the need for aligning data with business processes, and meeting people where they are in the journey.

Philips is a health technology company improving people’s health and well-being through meaningful innovation.

When asked about the strategy behind keeping teams agile and productive, Sharma states that while it is chaotic, change is the only constant. Having a framework for decision-making helps, she adds. For example, choosing a plan based on specific constraints and evaluating it against certain criteria can be beneficial.

This ties back to creating visibility, says Sharma, and adds that people are more forgiving when things do not go as planned if they understand the reason behind it. It boils down to sharing the thought process, explaining how options are being evaluated, and showing how decisions are made.

Sharma states that this doesn’t require exhaustive documentation. It could be a whiteboarding session, a one-on-one conversation, or even rough notes on a piece of paper. What matters is being honest with oneself and the team and taking the responsibility to see where it leads.

Shedding light on the insight and impact, Sharma states that there is a chasm between the two. She asserts that this often happens because there is much excitement about augmenting data without treating it as a proxy for underlying business processes.

Adding further, Sharma maintains that while building the analytical bridges, it is critical to map it all back to the business processes. These processes need to be augmented and accurate because that is where the data comes from. The kind of projects that fall through are those where, because of the exuberance to gain insight, the business process is left behind.

As a data professional, it is easy to get excited about the changes that can be implemented through code without fully considering the complexities of the physical world. That is where the gap lies between insight and impact.

Sharma notes that it is crucial to keep partners together in the journey. The responsibility to persuade, provide context, and emphasize the importance of these changes lies on the one who has full information. However, leaving stakeholders behind is not an option.

Moving forward, Sharma says that more data does not mean more intelligence or greater impact, but appropriate data does. She affirms that data people need to be extremely interactive with business because business processes are evolving and data practitioners must be able to respond to that.

Furthermore, Sharma says that she is realistic about the things that are within her control, such as her learning path and responsibilities. Therefore, in cases where she knows more, the onus of communicating that vision lies with her. This can happen when there are open relationships where it is comfortable to disagree because there is a shared goal of organizational benefit.

Thereafter, Sharma remarks that it is necessary to meet people where they are in their journey. In larger organizations, analytical maturity is a mosaic, she says. Some areas are highly analytically aware, possessing the capabilities, ownership, and knowledge to make significant leaps, while others are less advanced.

For example, some individuals may prefer interacting with dashboards and are comfortable engaging at that level, and it is important to support that. At the same time, there are teams that want to build their own models or create their own semantic layers, and they need to be empowered to do so.

In conclusion, Sharma states that products and solutions must cater to the varied needs of the audience, not just subject matter but also analytical aptitude.

CDO Magazine appreciates Shruti Sharma for sharing her insights with our global community.