Neil Carden, CEO, Forth Point, a Blend 360 company

What key skills or attributes do you consider have contributed to your success in this role? 

A focus on partnering to drive change and not accepting that my work is complete until something has changed for the customer at the shelf edge.

What level of data maturity do you typically encounter across your client base and what tends to hold this back? 

We typically work with low and high maturity clients. The high maturity clients tend to focus on technology and sophisticated analytical techniques. It’s all about delivering use cases at pace using the latest tools and techniques. And it’s about working in partnership with end users and key enabling stakeholders like IT. We love mature clients because they stretch our knowledge and challenge us.

The low maturity clients typically have stalled in their data journey and want to get moving. It’s usually governance and operating model issues, or not knowing how to build organisational momentum. We help them prioritise, build momentum through delivery of use cases that users value and work out how to develop their capabilities without the big upfront investments with an uncertain outcome that can damage the reputation of a team.

Low maturity clients are often the places you can make the biggest incremental impact. We love to help them succeed.