Does your Board struggle with Big Data?

“It can be difficult for someone who has grown up in a non-digital world to conceive of a business as digital."  FT Oct 2014

• Only two FTSE companies have a CTO on the main Board
• 74% FTSE boards do not think Social Media is “important”
• 47% have never discussed Social Media
• 32% have never assessed vulnerability to cyber attacks
• 67% businesses don't measure the value of "Data as a Corporate Asset"
• 9% of businesses have a Chief Data Officer
• Over 40% have a leader whose title includes the word "Digital"

​ “I grew up in a physical world and I speak English. The next generation is growing up in a digital world, and they speak social.” 
​Angela Ahrendts (former CEO of Burberry)

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​​Challenges

• Board skills. Many boards and management teams prefer to rely on “HIPPO” decision-making (“Highest Paid Person’s Opinion”) or intuition, experience or “gut feel”, rather than adopt a Data Driven culture that challenges conventional thinking
• Data Collaboration. Encouraging functional teams to work collaboratively on new metrics that are cross-functional (ranking customers by profitability, for example, needs sales and finance teams to work together)
• Business Transformation. Unclear on the relationship between "Digital Transformation" and "Big Data"
• Who to ask. Interested in learning more, but not clear what skills are needed or where to go for advice (CIO/IT, "Top 4" consultants, technology suppliers?)
• ​Where to start. Uncertain on whether to hire a "Chief Data Officer"/"Chief Digital Officer" or to allow existing initiatives to grow unchecked
• Project evaluation.  Uncertain how to deal with budget requests for analytic projects, and on what questions to ask.
• Compliance & Governance. What additional factors should be considered when embarking on Big Data projects

​See examples of some of the questions you should be asking
See use cases: Financial Services, Retail & CPG, Media & Advertising, Transport/Other.

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