Roundtable discussions 1

• Accelerating culture and organisation change with data mesh
  Data mesh is a modern approach that favours a decentralised and federated model to structure a data platform and the teams around it. It removes the traditional bottleneck caused by structuring teams and data in a centralised manner. But data mesh is a lot more than a technology, and implementing it successfully will drive organisational and cultural change.
  
  
• Pulling IT from the shadows
  How do you achieve true collaboration between the business and IT to drive digital transformation in the enterprise? Far too often IT and their business counterparts are locking heads and finding themselves at opposite ends of the table instead of sharing the same vision and goals for digital transformation. Join this roundtable to discuss fresh approaches and ideas for bringing IT and the business closer to each other and to find ways to align towards a shared vision.
  
  
• Improving Transformation Success
  The majority of business transformations don’t deliver their intended benefits for a number of reasons, but many do. Join Will Lowe, Engine’s Chief Data Officer and other organisations to hear about their transformation journeys and share your own experiences and advice on how to create change.
  
  
• Delivering value through data science
  In recent years that here been increasing investment in data science as a core enabler of digital transformation. According to recent research in conjunction with DataIQ, companies with data science capabilities generated an average value from their investment equivalent to 6.7% of annual turnover. This grew to 17.9% for companies who had maturely their data science capabilities and successfully aligned it with their business objectives. Rich Pugh reveals the results of this research in more detail, and will lead a discussion on the practical aspects of delivering on the potential of data science for your organisation.
  
  
• Building data foundations fit for purpose
  How are you setting up the data foundations for your business ?
  
  
• From burning platform to data platform
  As part of the data strategy, a new IT strategy, or because existing platforms are reaching end of life, migrating to a new data tech stack is a regular issue for data departments. At this roundtable, delegates will share their experiences, hacks and tips for finding the right solution.
  
  
• Tech spec - identifying the why, not the what
  Transformations can easily become technology-led with retooling seen as the solution to broken processes. This roundtable will discuss the importance of fully exploring the use cases before drawing up the specification, ensuring the business fully expresses why it needs a solution, before deciding what is the best fit.
  
  
• How to manage the demand for data
  When an organisation starts to adopt data and analytics, demand from stakeholders will rapidly overtake capacity. That means some of the most enthusiastic advocates will find their projects are at the back of the queue. This roundtable will explore how delegates apply and explain prioritisation to keep everyone on-side.
  
  
• Creating a skills map to find the data literacy gap
  While levelling up the organisation in its understanding and use of data is critical, that does not mean turning each and every colleague into a citizen data scientist. Mapping existing skills and needs will mean limited resources for data literacy programmes can be more effectively targeted - this roundtable will consider how to do just that.
  
  
• Start small, grow big
  
  
• Better metrics, better projects
  Engaging with stakeholders on a project should include clear agreement on how to measure the value being created by data and analytics. Getting that agreement is not always easy, but it will ultimately lead to stronger projects reaching the front of the queue. This roundtable will share views on how to get to that point.
  
  
• Embedding analytics, absorbing the costs
  At a certain level of maturity, centralised data and analytics will align with the business through a hub-and-spoke model. But that does require the line of business to take over the full cost of those embedded practitioners. As this roundtable will explore, this is a significant, but difficult step to take.
  
  
• Shouting about data
  If the data strategy is to become fully aligned with the business strategy, the organisation first needs to know what is possible. As. this roundtable will discuss, practitioners are not naturally good at shouting about their achievements and skills. So how do you build their confidence and get the data show on the road.
  
  
• Keeping data teams aligned with the business
  What excites practitioners in data and analytics is the chance to work on technically-challenging projects. Rarely are they focused on the wider strategic goals of the business. Delegates at this roundtable will share their experiences of how to ensure teams keep the big business picture in mind whie delivering business-as-usual.
  
  
• How to keep data hip (without the hype)
  Amid advocacy of data and talk of the fourth Industrial Revolution, it is easy for the C-suite to want to jump into advanced projects like AI and machine learning. Underpinning that is a lot of less glamorous work on data quality and data governance, however. This roundtable will explore how to get these foundations built while also pursuing the vision for the organisation.

Roundtable discussions 2