Define the data and AI agenda
Strategy
Large organisations often assume that the value of a dataset increases with its quality. As a result, they invest heavily in completeness, accuracy, lineage, and governance maturity. But quality does not create value. It amplifies value that already exists. Consider contact data, company information, and organisational hierarchies. If a third-
Technology
Imagine walking through a large company. A CFO is reviewing a sales dashboard. A salesperson is working through a list of prospects. A customer is browsing a website, deciding whether to buy. These appear to be different activities. Different people. Different tools. Different products. But there is a good chance
Leadership
As organisations grow, getting things done often becomes harder, not easier. The problem is rarely a shortage of talent. It is that talented people become separated by reporting lines, functional boundaries, and competing priorities. Work slows as coordination expands. The most effective teams organise around an outcome rather than an
Innovation
Imagine two companies making the same mistake. The first discovers it after three weeks. The second discovers it after three years. The mistake is identical. Yet one survives and the other may not. Why? Because mistakes have a peculiar property. They grow while nobody is looking at them. A product
Strategy
Every generation believes its defining technology changes the rules of business. Usually, it changes the tools. Today it's AI. Before that it was social media, mobile, the internet, and the personal computer. Each expanded what organizations could do. None changed what organizations ultimately depend on. Every business is
Commercial Value
Most data strategies fail for the same reason cities go bankrupt: they try to govern everything. Somewhere, a well-meaning data owner is responsible for 4,000 attributes. Each has a definition, lineage and quality score. The effort is impressive. The economics are less clear. Finance offers a useful clue.