Time was when a lake was where you swam, sailed or fished; when mining meant digging things out of the ground and scientists wore white lab coats.
Add the word ‘data’ and confusion reigns – and it’s not just data: it’s BIG data!
Of course not everyone needs to know how a data scientist is building an algorithm to extract insights into client data from your company’s data lake, or how machine learning is being used to model that data and build predictive analytics for the sales and marketing team.
- But what if you do need to know?
- What if you oversee people whose job it is to know?
- What if you have a responsibility to ensure the organisation makes use of these techniques – or at least considers them?
Maintaining the right level of knowledge to perform your job effectively has always been a requirement of every industry, throughout time. Now, as technology changes and the complexity and speed of change increases, executives can struggle to keep pace.
Wealth management firms are not typically at the forefront of technology innovation and adoption and frequently lack the familiar high-tech tools of our daily lives. They’re not alone. From major retailers to major transport providers, there are numerous examples of firms and sectors who have been slow to embrace technology and suffered disruption as a result.
But it’s not a sustainable approach. Data is central, with more collected and stored every millisecond. Just think how many recent political campaigns have embraced and centred around a highly sophisticated – if controversial – use of data.
So how do you run the business today while also preparing it for tomorrow?
It is the role of the Board and C-suite to set strategy, including innovation and data strategies. While I don’t expect to see CEOs sifting through lines of code or administering databases, they do need to be able to hold technologists to account, manage technology risk and understand emerging opportunities.
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Note: This opinion piece was first published by Catalyst prior to the Davies merger
