Susan Walsh, founder and managing director, The Classification Guru
Describe your career to date
My career to date has involved a lot of hard work, determination, and self-belief. When I started The Classification Guru in 2017, I didn’t have a single connection in the procurement or data space, but that didn’t stop me.
I didn’t come from a data background, but after spending five years at a spend analytics company, I noticed there were huge issues with data quality, and I was sure there were organisations out there that would need a data classification or cleaning services, without the need of analytics or dashboards.
I noticed there seemed to be a lack of focus or investment in the importance on data quality, so I created content, positioning myself as an expert, sharing my knowledge, highlighting the importance of data quality and appearing on podcasts and webinars, even doing a TEDx talk! I’ve been making data fun, relatable and dare I say it exciting.
Carving out a niche for myself, coupled with my unique approach to marketing, has taken the business to places I couldn’t have imagined. I now speak globally on dirty data and continue to promote the importance of data quality, gathering a few accolades along the way, including the DataIQ Data Champion of the Year 2022 award.
But that’s not enough, I want to share my knowledge and experience as well. I noticed there are actually very few resources available in data cleaning and classification - so I decided to create my own.
I have now been a published author since September 2021 with my book ‘Between the Spreadsheets: Classifying and Fixing Dirty Data’ which has been doing really well since and has had some great feedback. I’m also pleased to announce that I also have my very own training course on sale called Fixing Dirty Data, sharing the very basics of data cleaning, which sadly is often neglected in other courses.
What key skills or attributes do you consider have contributed to your success in this role?
Self-belief – I always knew and believed there was a need for my services.
Determination – When others said it wouldn’t work, I wanted to prove them wrong.
Resilience – I’ve pushed through not having any clients for months, no money to pay my bills and personal issues.
Fearlessness – I’m not afraid to put myself out there, make risky decisions and take chances to get where I am, and I’m not afraid to be myself.
What level of data maturity do you see across the data industry and what tends to hold this back?
Across the data industry the maturity level is high, however, unfortunately many of an organisation’s data problems come from outside the data industry. I firmly believe that we need to target and educate every single person in an organisation, not to make them all data mature but to have at least a basic understanding of the importance of data, data quality and data management.
Another challenge is also funding this activity. Many senior decision-makers don’t see the value in fixing dirty data properly or investing in educational programmes, however, it’s important to remember that data is an investment, not a cost.
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