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The Gartner Data & Analytics Summit in London is over, but we kept talking about it.
On LinkedIn, on our website, during calls, with clients, in front of the coffee machine...
We talked so much about what we learned and the great discussions we dived in and listened to that conversation became words, and words became a blog!
This blog.
Here are the 5 takeaways from the event we want to share with you.
- The Generative AI impact on business is huge
- Privacy and transparency require more attention
- Data storytelling and data visualization are very important
- Data democratization is key to getting the most out of your data
- Attract and retaining AI and data people is about empowering them
Generative AI impact on businesses
“AI was everywhere at the event,” Lucia Zecchinato, iGenius.
In his keynote at the Gartner Event, Anthony Mullen, VP Analyst at Gartner, discussed the benefits, risks, and opportunities of generative AI models to tap their business value and minimize risks, stressing the importance of being aware of pros and cons. We couldn’t agree more.
Everyone is integrating gpt-like models to have generative AI capabilities for their business, but they need to consider: 1) sustainability over jumping on the latest cutting-edge technology because everybody does, 2) having a transparent approach and strategy on using these capabilities for data & analytics, for which purpose, and setting up internal rules, 3) let people, not AI, make the final decisions since generative AI can give people the insights they need to make data-driven decisions quickly and easily.
Data visualization
“Data storytelling is becoming more and more a must-have!” Jana Pilato, iGenius.
Being at the Gartner event made us realize that data & analytics need to be ‘seen’ and understood by a much broader audience. They struggle because of poor UX/UI experience in data visualization and storytelling and because traditional BI tools are still too complicated, requiring lots of technical intervention from the data team.
Data storytelling is not only a nice skill that enables organizations to make sense of their data; great UX/UI performance should be a priority for businesses to make data easier to understand for business people, but also to extend the reach of these data, increasing data adoption overall in the business, generating lots of value for data people too.
Data privacy and security
“Is my data safe?” Nicolas Pantaleo, iGenius.
Among all the questions we got at our stand at Gartner, those about the security of data and the reliability of the information were the most frequent.
Privacy and security of the data require more attention today, particularly with the rise of artificial intelligence and the massive quantity of online data. There are three levels of uncertainty that data people put their attention on over the event 1) they want reassurance on how reliable the information provided by BI tools powered by AI is, 2) they want to know how the data is handled and stored to minimize risks and data breaches 3) they also need to deeply understand how these AI models work to exploit the opportunities and the benefits not only mitigating the risks. That’s why it’s so essential having open discussions on these topics.
Data democratization
“It’s all about hyper simplified access to data” Paolo Albano, iGenius.
In his keynote Rita Sallam, Distinguished VP Analyst from Gartner showed the top trends in data and analytics (D&A) technology in 2023 and how companies can leverage these trends to drive new business growth, efficiency, resilience, and innovation. She pointed out that ‘data sharing’ is essential and that humans remain the final decision-makers.
Data democratization is not only about accessing data but also about better decision-making processes, increasing data adoption, changing how business and data people conduct their day-to-day business, and maximizing the value generated from data. By talking with so many people at the event, we learned how much data democratization and collaboration at scale are helpful for all the business: teams, stakeholders, managers, prospects, clients, etc.
Data people empowerment
“A common misconception is that we need to train more people in D&A skills. We need them to understand how to support business stakeholders in their goals and objectives.” Jorgen Heizenberg, VP Analyst at Gartner.
This is the last takeaway we want to share and, probably, the most important one. As Jorgen Heizenberg, VP Analyst at Gartner, said in his keynote cooperation across teams is key to building successful data, analytics, and AI teams.
Data people work hard to have all these great insights available and ready for use. Nothing is as rewarding as seeing business people consume that data and incorporate insights into their daily business decisions. That’s why data & analytics must be shared and available to everyone in the organization: to create an ecosystem where technology can help access data quickly and easily without people needing complex technical knowledge.
Conclusion
Talking to many professionals at the Gartner D&A Summit in London, we realized how much awareness there is around the potential of generative AI, the needs and pain points around data & analytics for business and also for data teams, and the importance of having a clear strategy, safe data, and a simple UX/UI interface, all in order to make data & analytics accessible and easy to use for everyone in the business.
Our goal is to extend the reach of data to a broader audience by making data accessible and easy to put into perspective thanks to our GPT for Numbers, building more data culture opportunities and value.
Always putting people first, of course.