Data & Analytics – ProfoMedia

ARE WE LIVING IN A DIGITAL DATA WORLD? OR HAS IT ALREADY MOVED ON?

We spend the day at the recent Chief Data & Analytics Officer, UK (or CDAO UK) conference in central London, to see if what people are saying – matches up to what is going on in the real world.

This was an excellent Conference. It brought together a wide variety of vendors, – all of whom were uniquely adept at their respective slices of competence in what is now such a large and technical area of work, that impacts on each and every one of us in our private and corporate lives.

Simon O’Riordan of the Kubicle company puts it well:

““ Data literacy skills are not only required by the analytics or the IT team; all departments and roles within an organization can benefit from data literacy skills. Data literacy enables employees to ask the right questions, gather the right data and connect the right data points to derive meaningful and actionable business insights. ”

And like so many good events, the show could not have gone on, so to say, without the delegates, the protagonists, the audience – and the synergy that the corporates who attended can bring with their interaction and opinions as they sip coffee in the mingling areas.

For many – the “mingling or networking areas”, were the reason for being there at all. It was the opportunity to get to the heart of what does this all mean, for you and your own level of practicality. There is nothing better than knowing how your peers adapt to the same issues that you have.

Probably best at that level of practical assessment, was Nick Barth, of Microstrategy, who took me aside and got to the point of his earlier Presentation :

“Yes, there is the assumption that, the more nerdy, the better – but that is not usually helpful. What we are talking about is the democratising of data, the governance of data in a way that ordinary people can understand. We at Microstrategy often find that we adapt our pitch, so to say, to suit the role of the recipient”.

It’s an important point – giving a practical view of what could be taken as a theoretical concept. We analyse data because we can, not necessarily because we need to have a commercial or practical reason for so doing.

I particularly liked my discussion with Dario Morelli, Head of Analytics at Truelayer, and the need for big connectivity within the financial sector and its need for a simpler process.

It was a contrast to the NHS Presentation that followed the next morning. This was a wake up call of a public sector approach that differed from the commercial ambience of the conference itself. There was a pause of silence when Ming Tang said that her department employees some 2000 Data Analysts. Bearing in mind that by comparison, the UK NHS itself has some 200 NHS Trusts in the UK, can it really take one Hospital area to require 10 analysts?

If there was a concern, it was that in certain key vertical markets, healthcare being the obvious one – data delivery has already moved on. If we compare the UK to say Scandinavia, data and personal info is via our mobile phone and iPad. PC systems have died away and those standards with them.

These discussion points are worth having. The value of the Chief Data & Analytics Officer, UK or CDAO UK, is in these friendly confrontations. And if we didn’t attend – then we wouldn’t get the value, would we?

THE CHIEF DATA OFFICER – WHAT IS THE POINT OF THAT?

We prepare for the upcoming CDAO Conference in London this week.

The problem of data – is that it is meaningless without context. Or more commercially – it is silly to have information, if that cannot give you a commercial direction.

We have already seen this year, one major Insurance company stop all of its forward planning – just because its management could not agree on a coherent way forward as to objectives that it wanted to attain.

And in the cross- fertilisation of modern corporates, ie, you need to communicate or at least be on nodding terms with – your management equals, and upwards and downwards – there are just too many people so often in the chain, who think they have a right to an opinion, and who indeed can scupper best laid plans.

Life was so much simpler when you just had a budget, and off you went.

This week, we will be talking to many leading Data specialists, to discuss precisely this – where is your commercial road map. We don’t want to talk about technology, unless this is the delivery mechanism for some deeper objective.

I think we will have lots of interesting discussions. The Conference is at;

https://cdao-uk.coriniumintelligence.com.

See you there~!

Does Social Media work?

We discuss the corporate focus on “digital”, and ask the unthinkable – does Social Media actually work any longer?

it started as a way for corporates to engage better, with their prospects and customers. What was obvious was that the classic CEO-style of interview – was not getting traction – and we felt that there needed to be a more engaging style of delivery.

Better still – if we can add some completely different and disruptive elements, to get attention – hence the use of the music setting in the Interview here. Sitting at the grand piano is a great way to chat to people, who get comfy snuggled in the curve of the piano itself. The above Interview is the first of a series we are doing, called “Podcasts around the Piano”, for that reason.

And so we talk. We “chat” about social media. Have we reached a tipping point? In the same way that Conferences and Trade Fairs that focus on the fact that their delegates and/or vendors are “digital” – well the reaction now is “so what?”

Of the four latest Healthcare Conferences in London that we ourselves have covered in the last few weeks alone – the most engaging – were the ones that did not sell technology, but talked about a specific clinical benefit.

What we have found over the last 12 monads, is that the rush to meet face/face has not diminished in its appeal. That face/face selling is still seen as the key to closing. And that online interaction, whilst expedient – is still what it always was – simply that. Simply expedient.

So we are asking the question; like in all things in life, and as Irina says in her video here – she does prefer going shopping in a place called a High Street.

Is it time to rethink our strategies of how we engage with our market, and that social media might need to become social awareness?

IS I.P THE GLUE THAT HOLDS COMPANIES TOGETHER?

As the need and acceptance back to 2019 levels, to meet and discuss things in person, grows with every company , we visit the latest IQPC Conference on IP Management; and as the delegates told me – it’s been a while.

The view from the 7th floor of the Brewery Conference Centre, as it looks out past Sodermalarstrand, to the famous City Hall and its Blue Room – is one of the best in Stockholm.

True, local cognoscenti, or “new money” – would probably prefer something more sedate and subtle, in Stureplan, politely rubbing shoulders with chi chi shops or private client offices around Biblioteksgatan. But if you are going to invite 140 of Europe’s top experts in Intellectual Property, to congregate face to face, and give their views – then you need to show that their views matter. Nowhere does it better than a standout view of the home Nobel Prize arena.

And matter, they do. With a tag lines and discussion sessions focussing on statements such as “Bringing the IP Portfolio to Life”. And the even more direct “Creating an IP Culture which pursues, protects and leverages IP as a Core Element of Business Strategy” – these are marketing driven perspectives that despite the legal nature of the subject matter – are already embedded in the commercial future of each company.

It is a message that, if you had arrived late on the opening day, even by just a few minutes, you could have missed. Maria Mellgren, IP Director at the Essity company – stood up at around 10.00am and delivered one of probably the top three reach – out discussions of our two days together, and what she said was two fold – that companies do not recognise the importance of brand protection as part of the IP function, that if you are acquisitional, there can be a struggle of management to see where each new brand can play its part.

Or. More important, which, of your portfolio of patents – will play their part. Sure, they are all good eggs – but which are the ones that will fly?
These are commercial discussions. Ingrid Vitanen, VP of Legals at Nokia, talked about “brand enforcement” – that this was a “work in progress”.
This was a Conference where even by lunchtime on the first day, it was clear that each delegate, each protagonist, wanted to play their part. There were no shortage of provocative views, despite the friendly ambience of the occasion . And whilst, for the first few minutes of Day One – there was a clear recognition that if you are going to focus on IP – then Sweden and Stockholm is the place to do it, and the relief of being able to get back together after all these months and years – people were here not to reminisce, but to say “ok – where is this all taking us”?

For the moment, as we moved into an after-lunch discussion – the Conference moved subtly away from Commercials and into the area of Risk. Several Patent Attorneys talked to us in the earlier break, about “financing risk management”. Heidi Adler, Director International Property Rights, at Orion Corporation, spoke for several minutes about “Risk Mitigation”. We are in the Nordics after all. We don’t immediately reach for our Lawyer.

And then there was the more philosophical question – “well, why do we have IP issues at all”? Are they not suffice gently regulated?

As the day progressed into Day Two, slowly this became a discussion about risk, and reward. And is the move towards open standards, ie, where everything fits and we can each benefit from the others developments or intellectual property – the term was FRAND was mentioned several times – and the notion that, as far as legal protection was concerned – there is no simple answer. We just have to pick our battles.

Ok – fair enough.

It took way into the Conference before Felora Mofidi, Global Head of Intellectual at DSX, voiced something that many of us had been thinking, but few had mentioned sufficiently – that, – if we believe in the value proposition commercially of our IP, then this demands a change of culture. Only 30% of delegates seemed to “get” this point, but it remained one of the standout moments, subtly thrown in to the mix of argument, but it represented the journey of IP from the purely legal patent management, to the realisation that corporate value depends on everyone getting on the same train, so to say.

It was a key moment, and fitted the direction of the Conference as a whole. As Day Two talked about “Capitalising on Future IP Opportunities “ – I quietly slipped away.. I had an evening meeting further north.

IS FINANCE JUST ABOUT TECHNOLOGY?

We sit in on the recent Future of Finance Conference at London Wembley, from the expert people at IQPC, and congratulate them on a great bringing together of like minded people.

I push open the revolving doors at the Hilton and walk across the soft carpet. It is quite silent, very few people. There is no signage of the conference but it’s obvious the way to go is upstairs. I follow the escalators up two floors and there we are. The girls at the Conference Reception smile, hand me my badge – “sorry, what was your name.. BLOSS?”…. And suddenly, dressed in a royal blue suit and smiling broadly, Richard Walls, Event Director, strides across.

“Richard, great to see you! How was the journey?”

We have never met before in our life. But that does not matter. We are among friends now. IQPC may not have been the first, in these post Covid days – but they were the first that mattered. And if there were some misconceptions, some blind alleys, this Conference was everything that a meeting of minds should be. Groups of varied and disparate financial business leaders mixed with vendors of solutions who had seen all this before, were experienced, who knew the game, knew what to say.

There was a feeling of relief, that we could finally share experience together in a way that was never possible in the far more blunt Zoom and Teams environments. It was not a large event – some 50 or so delegates, and a dozen vendors, but there was never a sales or pushy environment, this was almost Scandinavian in the focus on simple discussion leading to business discussion.

The programme was mixed – but focussed on technical as opposed to commercial.- And even when two of the speakers had to cancel last-minute – there was such goodwill in the audience and protagonists, for others to step up and join the debate.

It was very well organised and structured; the Day One afternoon revolving Group sessions allowed us all to cherry pick the areas of knowledge that we wished to look at. This was a meeting point of shared knowledge. I particularly liked the practical points that Kevin from Siemens Gamesa alluded to, and David Myers’s from Brewin was equally practical in his comments.

Typical was the early morning round table on Day Two, which looked principally at ESG – a concept that few of us had ever considered. It was tough start to the day. After an hour, Richard Walls leant forward from the back and said “we are covering a lot of questions that we had not thought of; we need to plan additional days like this”.

Yes, they do. People nodded their head in agreement at this comment. There was little mention of the impact of people and personnel in the financial changes that were being discussed, the cultural differences that “looking into the future” that cultural differences will bring.

But that again, did not matter.

I got the distinct view that, given enough time – we could have solved the worlds problems. It was a throwaway but so relevant thought on my part.

A Text arrived on my iPhone. I walked away from the huddle taking coffee. My co-Director, Irina, messages me she had just arrived at the Ukraine/Moldova border, from her home in Kiev. Safe at last. Among friends.

Has COVID been a blessing?

As we slowly – for most of us – move out of Covid restriction -we look at how the forcing of Hospitals to be online may well be the saviour they have still yet to recognise.

Some four years ago, I am sitting with a Clinical Consultant at a major Uk Hospital and he says to me, ‘Richard”, he says: “we can never do patient appointments without the patient being there. The Nurses just won’t stand for it”.

This is an interesting observation. Because, whilst we all have seen instances of reluctant or obstructive IT Teams, or even “Transformation Teams” – and now more likely, Data teams, towards the introduction of new tech driven processes, what we are seeing still, is that these insecurities are supported at a human nature level, and the excuses of choice are related to “unacceptable risk”, or “doesn’t fit our road map” or worse “we already have a policy for this”.

This is a pity, because if there is one benefit from COVID turning our lives upside down, it is that our lives can be much better when we put everything back in order. And there is no reason not to.

Because, what we know now of course, is that the secure tech exists, and has done so for some years, for perfectly capable remote patient discussion – and its advantages of bringing to the party additional protagonists to fit whichever patient we are talking to – are well known. So the question is:

Why did we not think of this before?

Well, we did. And it was not you and I in healthcare, that created or discovered it. It was our phone companies, and our search engines, whose livelihood depended on things being secure, flexible, and above all workable – long before you and I started to relate the same services that we use in our daily lives – to our working lives.

The upshot of all this, is that it now brings into question, why are we persisting with our old ways of doing things, our giant clunky solutions, our old SQL and single-sign on etc processes, when they have already long been superseded by mobile Apps that you and I can download for a few pence, and that require no support, and connect with planet Zog, from the moment we start to install in our front bedroom.

Yet you could say this is a negative. The driver for this unseen revolution, has been the necessity of COVID, to not meet people. Fair enough. I get that.

But now we are there, can we not recognise the promised land that gives us Carte Blanche to absolutely look again at how we run our hospitals, what is new and available right now, to do the same job that used to and still costs us zillions – when we can indeed reach a much better utopia, further, and use our resources much better?

What we have found over the past two years when we talked at all levels throughout Hospitals, is that there is no single Department, or Division, etc where we can point a finger. It is the prejudice of the individual that restricts them from going outside their comfort zone, that it is Ok to go outside their comfort zone – that it is essential to do so.

The problems that we are currently experiencing, of longer waiting lists, of five hour waiting times at E&E, and I could go on – are the result of the inability and unwillingness to prepare for change. Which brings me to my point. We surely do not want to experience another pandemic, to realise that we could have done it all better, so much earlier.

IS DTX THE NEW PLACE OF LEARNING?

As things apparently return to normality, and we start doing proper face to face trade conferences and I could go on – is it time to realise that there is no more a sense of ”normality”. Has the upcoming DTX and its focus on all things “Digital” become a place of learning, and not a place of selling?

Of course it is a place of selling. There are people called Vendors, and people called Visitors, who would not be there if there was not some sort of commercial benefit to both parties. But there the similarity ends. As we all emerge from nearly two years of COVID enforced hibernation, the one thing that is clear, is that nothing is clear.

Sure, we have heard of digitalisation – but there is little consensus as to what that means or what it can guarantee to deliver. We know that “transformation” is a Good Thing. But why is this simply restricted in people’s minds, to technology? At a time when people are rejecting to go back to the commute driven road to work – where do people come into all of this?

What people do clearly need is not information. You and I need a RoadMap. And that’s why I shall join the queue and go spend a day at the Digital Transformation EXPO, at the beginning of October, in London. If the key benefit of this Conference is one of difference – a new way of looking at things, – then this also extends to the choice of key speakers, with investigative journalist Louis Theroux, and Adam Steltzner, fresh from NASA JPL to give me their take on where all this is going.

How so?

Because I am confused by the sheer pace of change. And I want to hear from others, how they solved this bridge into a new future that I am not sure I really “get”. I understand why DTX segments itself into little bubbles of “Cloud based security”, or “AI new advances”, and I could go on. But I believe the real benefit is the mix of experts, and as DTX promises, the opportunity to “exchange ideas with the best in the business”.

This is important, because the concepts mentioned at this Show are hardly new. One of the biggest problems in AI, for example, is that people have heard of AI before.

What people have not heard of however – is how others have used their technology and delivered outcomes that in some cases have been stellar – or have simply not worked. This equates with what we have found in our own research, that technology per se means nothing unless there is a human benefit.
I will listen to the anecdotes as much as the tech. And as any businessman knows, the chat in the coffee queue is often as valuable as the stand out presentation.

So I will learn a lot. The only question is – I just don’t know from whom.

NEW LAWYERS. TRANSFORMATION OF A PROFESSION

The subtle movement and shift of emphasis from today’s lawyers into Business Partners and strategic advisers – has changed the view that we have of them – and them of us. The question is; is this a difficult sell?

Nora Teuwsen is looking at me across the screen. She is dressed in Swiss minimalist chic, dark grey modern clothes, long auburn hair. As former General Counsel for Swiss Railways, and surrounded by the financial areas of Zurich, she is well placed to make a perceptive judgement.

“It used to be”, she says. “But now, Corporates are waking up to the fact that their in-house Lawyer is also a modern facilitator”.

Like so many young lawyers starting out, Nora had little clue of what a legal profession entailed. Her motivation had been more a belief in justice, integrity, that she still regards as valuable of all skills to have. What she was not prepared for in those early days – was the lack of client contact, and to work out and discover an understanding, that her preferred role was one of explanation, to explain the “why” things need to be so.

She is calm but animated in her delivery, you can see the entrepreneurial spirit that is driving her responsibility to take her client on a journey. The legal background has no longer become the prime reason for being retained, it is the structure of thought that can open other commercial discussions.

It is no surprise that after 15 years with Swiss Railways, it was obvious that the next step was to create a vehicle that could embrace all of these attributes and competences, into one, that could be offered as a package so to say.

What she says is; “companies are underestimating the value of their legal department”, and in many ways that department needs to be courageous in pushing for creative and pragmatic solutions which are taking into account the company’s strategy and focussing on longterm value.

Nora continues: “The role of the legal department is expanding. Areas of sustainability, social responsibility, are becoming the go to areas of importance for corporates of all sizes, and the legal department can assist in handling that interest.”

It is also a focus on use of Data. Surprisingly, Nora is not convinced by use cases in Artificial Intelligence in the legal industry. There is a great transformation going on, but so far, results are limited. So far, it has not come up on her radar as a priority.

The “BeyondLegal” Boutique Firm, Nora’s brainchild – from a single Zurich base – is already international clients. “What we are trying to do, is build a network of like-minded legal professionals. We live in an international world”.

I turn off my screen and take a moment of reflection. In a technology driven marketplace, human values are still the bedrock of our corporate growth, which we always had but somehow had been forgotten. Some things remain the same.

IS DIGITALISATION THE SUICIDE NOTE OF BUSINESS?

We look at SEO and the epidemic of digital solutions in Biz Dev, and ask; are we missing the point here?

I have a colleague, who is Head of Procurement for some large areas of Scandinavia. And what he says is this; “Richard” – he says – “ I have deliberately stopped answering any emails, or any calls, from anybody I do not recognise. If you want me to talk to any of your people, just let me know in advance and I will put their number in my personal contacts.”

In the same way that the freedom of the internet has given us multiple information choices that should have given us a broader outlook – and the reverse has been true – that we only focus on those news feeds that say the things we already believe, – and made worse by algorithms that proactively feed us those restrictive views. So – the same is with SEO and all things digital.

We can now reach out to anybody on this planet. But so can everybody else. Which means that the people that we need and want to talk to – for our business growth, our customer service, etc – have long since made the decision not to be available, at all.

What that means is that, far from being simple to grow a business by finding a person who we do not know, and just giving them a call, has now become more than four times as long and four times as expensive, and now involves, pre-sales people, post-sales people, all manner of IT support and analysis, to do what used to be the straightforward and simple task of just phoning a friend of a friend.

But what is worse, is that this has given acceptance and justification, to being proactive in not making human contact possible at all. Woe betide any receptionist who passes on yours or mine contact details!

This means that both sides are the losers. Vendors of great solutions give up, because they cannot support the increasing drain open their marketing spend. And Corporates or our Public Services continue with their outdated practices because nobody has been able to show them otherwise.

If COVID restrictions have taught us anything, it is that human nature needs human involvement, and yet we seem to be travelling at warp speed in the opposite direction. It is as if we are scared about the whole process of actually talking together in a business environment, or being”sold to”. How terrible.

In our own business here at Profomedia, we research a lot and are continually building personal relationships. Whenever we want to find out something, we reach out and phone someone we already know, – who then introduces us to someone who we don’t.

There. It wasn’t so difficult, was it.

INNOVATION AND THE COMMON MAN! YES, WE CAN NOW TALK FACE/FACE WITH THE PEOPLE WHO PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE DELIVERY DIGITAL INNOVATION.

We give a long overdue and welcome to the upcoming HETT Show, taking place on 28-29 September, at the Excel London, as an essential platform for our UK digital healthcare providers.

The HETT Show (www.hettshow.co.uk) – as the Uk’s leading health event, opens its doors in a couple of months. The HETT Show is one of the first serious events to greet us all, in person, and it is like when you have to hand your courtesy car back at the end of the day when your usual vehicle is being serviced. “No, I don’t want to go back to my old car, thanks! I prefer the new shiny one you lent me instead.”

Because – let’s face it – face-to-face events are the perfect place to gain insights and network. We miss the being there. And now we are back. Yes, we can indeed keep the courtesy car with the new number plates, after all. We can now justifiably drive off, and talk about Innovation.

HETT believes that innovation is the sauce that will empower the workforce in our hospitals and surgeries. The Show promises to herald a “new era of transformation”. And indeed it may well do so, for two surprising reasons. First, we are indeed, so fed up with the isolation of the past 15 months, it was fun in the beginning, true – but not now. And second, the success of any Innovation roll out, depends on precisely this, the motivation of the individual, to get up and actually “do something”.

It is a realisation that if Innovation is to deliver for the common man, the patient, then this is not a technology process, but a human experience process, that involves all of us, at each individual level in the workplace. And for that single reason, HETT has a unique advantage, it is first, in bringing us all together.

Over the past year and more, there have been significant differences in quality of care and even interest in delivering quality care, geographically throughout the UK. We see HETTshow (www.hettshow.co.uk) as an opportunity to re-examine where we are, and to meet people who can help this journey.

We will be publishing a Series of Case Studies of those Hospitals and Surgeries who have made Innovation work for them in the past year, despite all the odds. At a time when queues and delays for procedures are at an all-time high, this is a clear moment to get back on track.

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