Dimitrios Bourpoulas: How to Become a Data-Driven Organisation

Data Scientist and Data Strategy Expert Dimitrios Bourpoulas explains why more and more companies are striving to become data-driven and what they need to consider when formulating their data strategy. He also suggests that there is much moreto Artificial Intelligence than ChatGPT and Bard.

Why do many companies struggle to become data-driven organisations and how can they achieve this goal?

There can be no doubt that data has become one of the most important business assets of all time and is often described as ‘the world’s new natural resource’. For years, companies have been working very hard to become data-driven organisations and today, businesses not only produce and collect a huge amount of data but the amount of data created in many business domains is growing exponentially. So why is it so hard for companies to become data-driven organisations?

Let’s try to answer this question in a straightforward way. Becoming a data-driven organisation is not simply about developing and installing new technologies and investing in data infrastructure. Creating a data culture within the organisation is an essential step towards becoming data-driven and building a data culture is tough, which is why many modern companies are investing heavily in this direction. My advice to Cypriot companies and their key stakeholders is that, in order to become successful data-driven organisations, they need to start changing their data culture.

Why is it important for companies to embrace data strategies?

Understanding what it means to be a data-driven organisation is the first and the most crucial step. One approach is for companies to develop training programs, enabling them to become more data literate and derive meaningful information, insights and actions from their data. Another approach is to advise key stakeholders that there is no need to try and turn all their employees into data scientists: they just need to be taught how to use data wisely and safely. Also, companies should start by investing in modern technology such as Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing driven insights, and by understanding the importance of building data lakes and cloud-based solutions and developing advanced analytics.

Finally, modern companies should disrupt their existing culture by creating a culture in which data is democratised.

In Cyprus, compared to their international counterparts, companies are still at an early stage of utilising data to create value within the organisation. What distinguishes the most successful businesses, in my view, is their ability to understand what it means to be a data-driven organisation, to use data as a trusted source and to manage it as an asset across the entire organisation.

What is your definition of a good data strategy and why do organisations need such a strategy?

That’s a very good question! But first, allow me to highlight the following: Data is certainly hugely valuable to any organisation today but that does not mean that all data is useful and makes sense. For data to be truly valuable in a business sense, it should be used as a resource to help key stakeholders to deal with the following:

1.To address specific business needs and focus on top priorities.

2.To tackle the biggest challenges.

3.To achieve strategic business goals.

Simply put, organisations must realise that collecting data on absolutely everything does not make any sense. Organisations should focus on gathering the right set of data that really makes sense. This is why organisations need a good data strategy: one that will help key stakeholders identify several strategic data use cases.

So, to answer the question of defining what is meant by a good data strategy, I usually advise key stakeholders that a good data strategy is not determined by what data the organisation has in its possession. A good data strategy derives from understanding the company’s business needs and the type of data needed to successfully address these needs.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has now gone far beyond the technology sector and captured the imagination of the general public. What is your view of its current uses and future potential?

Today there is a lot of discussion about the new AI technologies powered by Microsoft, Chat GPT and Google’s experimental conversational AI service, Bard, powered by the Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA). These new technologies are powerful but, in my opinion, they cover only a small part of what AI is all about. AI is not only about creating smart machines; it is also about how to create ‘Smart Organisations’ and to do this utilising AI technologies, companies need to realise that intelligence is not just something that arises in human individuals or individual computers. It also arises in groups of individuals working together in a way that seems intelligent. If we want to try to predict what is going to happen in the future, it is important to answer the following question:

How can people and computers be connected so that, by working together, they act more intelligently than any individual person or computer has ever done before? One way to answer this question is by connecting people to computers in new ways that have more Artificial Intelligence as a group.

Data analytics is also playing an ever-increasing role in companies’ daily activities. Can you elaborate on its importance to the success of a business?

Indeed, Data Analytics and Data Science constitute a new revolution and their impact on many business domains today is just as profound. Research commissioned by Microsoft found that companies which have developed and implemented data analytics strategies and analytics platforms are more profitable and their employees are more productive. It turns out that these companies tend to enjoy an operating margin that is 8%-10% higher than those that are way behind in data and analytics.

In fact, in today’s data-driven world, modern companies leverage data analytics and data science to become more proactive in identifying business opportunities and new trends because they rely heavily on the validity of data rather than on market experience. On the other hand, it is true that organisations are aware and know very well that their data volumes are growing exponentially and the types of data they are working with have moved beyond semi-structured or unstructured data. But turning data into insights through analytics platforms is not enough. That’s why, in today’s world, data science is a major asset for modern corporations. A data scientist team’s priority is to help organisations understand how to turn insights into action and, most importantly, into new revenue streams. I strongly believe that the true benefit of data analytics is much more than adopting new technologies which provide visualisation tools.

It is about embedding analytics and data science across every aspect of a business, enabling it to become a ‘smart organisation’.

Dimitrios Bourpoulas

Dimitrios Bourpoulas is the founder of ValconGroup, a Business Data consulting company, consisting of Data Experts acting as Agents of Change when it comes to Business Analysis, Data Strategy, Business Intelligence, Data Analytics and Formulation of problems for Artificial Intelligence solutions. He currently leads the business and product development division of Artemis Credit Bureau, Cyprus’ sole Credit Bureau recognised by the World Bank and a subsidiary of the Association of Cyprus Banks.

He brings 15+ years of experience in the Information & Technology, Banking, FinTech and Insurance sectors across Europe, the Middle East and the USA. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from the University of Florida and a Master’s Degree in Statistics from Columbia University, New York. He has completed an MIT Executive Program in Artificial Intelligence Implications for Business Strategy and is a holder of CySEC’s Advanced Certification.

(Photo by TASPHO)

This interview first appeared in the June edition of GOLD magazine. Click here to view it.