DataIQ Leaders briefing – Squads and tribes

For data and analytics functions adopting agile as their way of working, a structure is also required for the people management dimension. Squads and tribes is an approach pioneered by Spotify in 2012 that is starting to transfer into this sector. This white paper explains the concept and how individuals fit into it.

DataIQ Leaders CARBON™ guidance – Issues with digital transformations

Digital transformations are en vogue among business leaders, yet many fail to achieve their goals. Five gaps typical open up between the vision and the reality. This white paper identifies them and the reasons why they occur.

DataIQ Leaders briefing – 5 ways to keep data at the heart of digital transformations

A common experience for data practitioners when their organisation adopts a new digital-first strategy is that it often lands without a data strategy attached. This briefing note suggests five ways to avoid this happening and to make sure data is seen as integral to digital transformations, based on conversations with DataIQ Leaders and DataIQ 100 members.

DataIQ Leaders briefing – Are data engineers in the new skills demand hot spot?

Data engineers are the new in-demand skilled workers as organisation seek to integrate multiple data sources or move to new data platforms. This whitepaper considers the challenges of recruiting in a limited talent field and what skills this role really requires, based on a recent DataIQ Leaders roundtable.

DataIQ Leaders primer – Data and analytics apprenticeships

Apprenticeships are an alternative route through higher education, but they are not well known or adopted within the data and analytics sector. This primer explains the basic principles of the scheme and the current options, as well as a few issues that have yet to be resolved.

DataIQ Leaders briefing – Managing expectations and priorities of the analytics function

In the early stages of maturity, analytics functions tend to operate in a highly-reactive state with little in the way of prioritisation of those incoming tasks. This creates a false expectation among stakeholders and stops the analytics function from progressing up the maturity curve to become proactive. This briefing paper outlines some key steps to avoid this trap.

DataIQ Leaders briefing – Data value and data ethics

Under the accounting standards developed for intangible assets, data suffers from a highly-reductive approach which does not realise the level of value most organisations believed their data was really worth. So are new approaches possible? And what impact will data ethics have on data value? This briefing provides and overview of the issue.

DataIQ Leaders briefing – Six habits of effective analytics leaders

Many organisations have set out a vision for their use of data and analytics. Often, the emphasis is on the tooling and hard skills required, rather than the behaviours and culture involved. This briefing paper considers six key aspects of soft skills that any senior manager of analytics leader needs to consider to deliver the vision.

DataIQ Leaders briefing: Four Steps towards creating communities of practice

Many organisations have data and analytics practitioners, often delivering against local requirements and from dispersed team or functions. To transform the impact they can have enterprise-wide, a level of momentum and critical mass needs to be created. One option is to build communities of practice. This whitepaper considers how to go about setting up a CoP.

DataIQ Leaders briefing – Is data management an IT-managed or standalone function?

Is data management turning into IT, given the extent of the supporting technology required by the data and analytics function? With new tools constantly being launched, this whitepaper, based on a DataIQ Leaders discussion, considers key decision points in where to site this function and what its true purpose should be.

DataIQ Leaders briefing – The 4 habits of effective analytics teams

Based on conversations with more than 70 data and analytics practitioners drawn from 27 different organisations, this briefing identifies four habits which can ensure that the analytics team and its leader engage and deliver to the business effectively.

Adopting agile analytics

Agile has been gaining favour as a methodology outside of its birthplace of software development. Data and analtyics are the latest functions to adopt this working practice. This guidance explains how to transfer the methods successfully.

DataIQ Leaders briefing: Making the business case for data and analytics

Data and analytics needs to compete for investment funds against all other departments in the organisation. So what are the compelling bases for the argument that will help it to win? This whitepaper synthesises thoughts from a DataIQ Leaders dinner discussion on the subject.

DataIQ Leaders briefing: Automation makes its mark

Just under half of UK organisations are already using automation in some form, with the rest still delaying adoption out of concerns about skills, resources and outcomes. This whitepaper reports on the experiences of DataIQ Leaders members that were shared at a recent roundtable event.

DataIQ Leaders briefing – Should the data industry have a professional institute?

Professions have institutes to accredit members and certificate their knowledge. Data practitioners have no such professional body. Does this obvious gap present an opportunity and, if so, how should it be tackled? This article considers the issues considered during a DataIQ Leaders breakfast briefing on the subject.

DataIQ Leaders briefing – Economists square up to data to find a formula for its value

Putting a valuation on data as an asset has proven to be a cul de sac for most organisations. Yet governments are growing increasingly interested in how to extract more value from digital platforms through taxation. Which is why a growing number of economists are looking at new models for the value in data. This briefing explains their line of thought.

Recruitment practices: Hiring from within

Recrutiing the data and analytics talent you need is a perpetual challenge, which is why looking at all possible sources makes sense. Within your organisation there may be a ready-to-go, untapped pool of skilled workers with the right understanding of your business. This whitepaper considers the pros and cons of hiring internally.

Understanding how human capital impacts on transformations

Transformations are a constant aspect of business management and data and analytics are both agents and enablers of them. Yet even the best-planned change programme can stall or fail. Underlying these issues, however, there are predictable patterns and reasons why problems emerge. This whitepaper looks at how human capital is often at fault.

Turning the data and analytics function into a trusted advisor

The most advanced level of CARBON maturity sees the majority of senior management decisions being made on a stable base of trusted analytics with an ongoing feedback loop. This is by no means easy to achieve, however. This guidance looks at what builds trusted advisor status and the specific implications for data and analytics practitioners.

DataIQ Leaders briefing: CDO v CIO – the battle for the boardroom

DataIQ Leaders advocates the presence of a chief data officer in organisations and that CDO is a board-level position. But that is not how every firm sees it, with a number appointing or moving their data officer into the CIO’s team. David Reed considers the arguments against this approach.