0
In the executive suite, they stuff data-rich dashboards with chart junk to create useless and misleading graphics. Meanwhile, many companies vacuum up as much customer data as they can find, to leave their analytics options open in the future.
Both of these examples reflect a cultish attitude toward data, based on the belief that collecting data is a useful, even virtuous, activity that creates its own reward. These notions rest on wrongheaded, yet popular, misconceptions about how to aggregate and use data to best advantage.
Getting to the root of this problem is difficult, so I invited two experts to join me on Episode 270 of the CXOTalk series of conversations with the world’s top innovators:
Anthony Scriffignano, Ph.D. is the Chief Data Scientist at Dun & Bradstreet (disclosure: CXOTalk underwriter) and a well-known figure in the world of data science. David Bray, Ph.D. is Executive In-Residence at Harvard University and Executive Director at People-Centered Internet. Previously, he was CIO at the Federal Communications Commission.
The two guests explode misconceptions on the value of aggregating data without a clear, underlying business strategy. The discussion addresses the problem from both a data science and business perspective.