Thanks for being here!
#1 - Check out a free trial of insights from our consumer spending data (via 90 West’s partnership with Exabel)
#2 - Our transaction data is now available at more granular “row level”.
#3 - Now have single merchant gift card data available. Yes, really!
Contact me to learn more.
Theme that emerged in this week’s email is … the importance of getting those early wins!
Quote
“The only radiologists that lose their jobs to AI will be the ones that refuse to work with AI.”
News Articles
Podcasts
Cool Charts
Final Thoughts (The Launch)
#1 – Ethan Aaron of Portable authored How To Get Business Insights From Your Data (Only 3 Ways). December 2022.
My Take: There are three ways (spoiler alert). 1- Analytics, 2- Process Automation, 3- Product Development.
For #1 analytics … domain knowledge is key … Q: what are the KPIs for your business? A: Ask the business leaders.
For #2 process automation (my favorite) ... make non-data people think this is magic!
For #3 product development … this is external facing for customer interaction, obviously urgent to get this right…good products make the customer relationship very sticky. I.e. it would be tough for me to switch banks because the flow of bill pay, balance checking, deposits, customer service, etc …is all so seamless for me. Would be a pain to switch banks.
#2 – Randy Bean published Has Progress on Data, Analytics, and AI Stalled at Your Company? January 2023.
My Take: This is a summary of the NewVantage report I’ve highlighted below (see charts section). Randy co-authors the introduction of the report. I like the idea of starting small. Get wins. Demonstrate value. Then expand and broaden the impact. Separately…find Randy’s book Fail Fast, Learn Faster here.
#3 – A host of authors from Two Sigma ventures published AI Outlook: The Opportunity for Startups. January 2023.
My Take: With all the noise around ChatGPT and the amazing uptake of users (1m in 5 days), it is still yet to be determined what the highest a best use case will be. My take is that proprietary data will still matter (i.e. Verizon will have better insight into their customers by using their own proprietary data) and the real differentiator will be: who can ask the best questions of the data?
BONUS: Rebellion Research published What Is Traditional Data Vs Alternative Data?. February 2023. Pitch for an upcoming Neudata conference in Boston.
BONUS 2: The 2023 MAD (ML/AI/Data) Landscape.
BONUS 3: Good LinkedIn post from Ashwin Kamath of Spectre regarding common challenges when it comes to the organizational structure of data teams.
#1 – Cindi Howson’s The Data Chief Podcast interviews Tom Davenport, Tony Baer, and Sonny Rivera. January 2023.
My Take: Three separate interviews with three different leaders in the data space. The Tom Davenport interview is the first. Biggest surprise was the importance of data governance. “Create visible value” is what you need to do as CDO … “alignment to value” to demonstrate impact. They next tackled AI and debunk the idea that AI will take jobs (I agree that AI will not negatively impact the broader job market). I like the idea that AI transparency is needed to build trust. “The only radiologists that lose their jobs to AI will be the ones that refuse to park with AI.” On deck are interviews with Tony Baer & Sonny Rivera.
Highlights (49-minute run time):
Minute 01:45 – Tom Davenport interviews starts
Minute 03:00 discussion of the CDO role and a recent survey
Minute 07:00 – CDO increasingly reporting to CEO (this is a good)
Minute 10:45 – discussion of Tom’s latest book about AI (link here)…debunks AI taking jobs
Minute 18:30 – thoughts on MSFT owning open AI / chatgpt
Minute 20:30 – CDO resolutions for ‘23; focus on productivity; adopt data product mgmt model & get things done
Minute 22:00 – Tony Baer interview starts and discussion of his new role as entrepreneur
Minute 24:00 – data mesh post; embrace data mesh concepts vs relying only on data warehouse
Minute 30:00 – Tony’s predictions for CDO role
Minute 34:00 – data practitioner resolution for 2023
Minute 36:00 – Sonny Riviera interview starts; Sonny’s background
Minute 40:30 – military background
Minute 41:30 – role within dbt community (DBT - data transformation tool). Take in data and data modeling and applied software model. Saves a lot of man hours. DBT is open & leverages SQL
Minute 44:00 – importance of data modeling skills.
Source: NewVantage Partners published 2023 Data Analytics Survey Report. January 2023.
This is the 11th annual report of this type.
Survey of data executives who served in executive data leadership positions with 116 diverse Fortune 1000 and leading organizations during 2022 participated in this year’s survey.
Takeaways:
Continued growth and commitment to data is reflected in record survey organization representation and record CDO/CDAO participation.
Adoption of CDO/CDAO role is reflected in record CDO/CDAO participation
Expansion of data and the CDO/CDAO role across industries and geographies is reflected in higher and more diverse industry and geographic participation
The CDO/CDAO role has achieved critical mass as evidenced by widespread adoption
Lack of clear expectations for the CDO/CDAO role contribute to lingering dissatisfaction as organizations struggle to deliver business value from their data investments
The CDO/CDAO role is evolving and maturing as organizations strive to deliver business value from their data investments
Investments in data are growing and remain strong, even with potential economic headwinds
Becoming data-driven and building a data culture remain aspirational objectives for most organizations
Cultural factors continue to be the greatest obstacle to delivering business value from data investments
Companies continue to fall short in attention and commitment to data ethics policies and practices
Source: Consumer Spending Insights powered by Exabel.
This week 90 West launched a new offering targeted at the “long tail” of institutional investment managers. The goal is to make using alternative data, specifically consumer transaction data, easily accessible to a much broader range of decision makers.
Check it out. Would love any feedback!
Separately, 90 West’s data was mentioned in a Forbes article linked here.
Happy to be working with CloudQuant and Morgan Slade as part of CloudQuant’s “crystal ball”.
Excerpt from article: