Dave Warder, head of data, insights and analytics, The Adecco Group
Describe your career to date
Coming out of university with a degree in maths and stats, and with a long-standing sports passion, I quickly gravitated towards the world of sports betting. Over the course of 15 years, I picked up experience across various operational roles, including data engineering, quantitative analysis, sports modelling, product optimisation and data science, to name a few.
My first jump into leadership was at Kambi, a world-leading B2B platform and service supplier, where I grew our data analytics function across multiple regions. Our function doubled in size, onboarding new teams and building out innovative functions with other intelligence teams across the business, as well as a virtual CDAO unit. It was during this time I invested more in my soft skills, focusing on communication, influence and negotiation – very useful tools as my career has continued.
In September 2022, I left the sports betting industry and joined The Adecco Group, a global HR solutions leader. This position has allowed me to take responsibility for the full data value chain, and we have built our function around six skills pillars grouped into foundations, delivery channels and business readiness. We are already identifying and delivering on significant value-add and de-risking opportunities and 2023 will see us drive these forward with recognition from the wider business.
Throughout my career I have been fortunate enough to work with exceptionally talented colleagues, who I have constantly been able to learn from. It has also been a pleasure to find opportunities to share my knowledge and experience with others in public settings, and benefit from the wisdom and expertise of other leaders.
What stage has your organisation reached on its data maturity journey?
We are starting from relatively low base on the maturity scale as an organisation with pockets of excellence, but now have a clear and compelling vision supported by Metis, our new data and analytics strategy, to guide us over the next three to five years. There is a common understanding that our data will deliver a competitive advantage and we now have more senior representation for data and analytics than ever before, so are in a much better position to execute.
Tell us about the data and analytics resources you are responsible for
I am responsible for the full data value chain in UK and Ireland, covering data management, engineering, visualisation, analytics, science and culture. Our function is building out from a small base of under 20 heads, but with plans to grow as we realise value for the rest of the business. In the short time I have been with The Adecco Group, we have incorporated multiple siloed teams into a focused centre-of-excellence. While we are currently centralised, a key strategic move will be to break historic isolation and position our delivery channels as close to internal stakeholders as possible.
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