This is a profile from the 2022 version of the DataIQ 100.
The latest list is available here.
Miriam Vizvary, VP data and analytics, Sky
What has been your path to power?
Having qualified as a teacher of English Literature, I started out as a graduate developer in the early 2000s when a software company decided to hire me to increase its team’s diversity. I learnt how to code ETL programmes and worked on data warehousing projects for about 10-12 years. I found that in most of my roles I ended up leading the team or being asked to become a manager as I was great with people.
So I decided to learn Prince II and become a project manager. The rest is, as I say, history - I started climbing the ladder, consciously putting in the effort to learn to become a better leader every day. All of my roles have been in data and it has become my specialty.
I am currently leading c130 people looking after data delivery and analytics at Sky. We are delivering a lot of value to the organisation and Sky really nurtures innovation which I find exciting and motivating. My goal is to become CDO and continue to generate value with data. My focus is to create a data-driven culture where analytics becomes the go-to for ideas validation or ideas generation.
What impact has the pandemic had on the role of data in your company/organisation?
The pandemic contributed hugely to a more data-driven culture. There is a much better understanding among the business community why data is essential to support decision-making. I find it easier to sell ideas and to spin up proofs of concept as a result.
Does data now have a seat at the table during strategic discussions? If not, what will it take to get it there?
This is true for some areas, but unfortunately not yet for others. My impression is that it really depends on the executive. There are still executives out there who have only worked for one company and have not been exposed to data-driven organisations. They simply haven’t been shown the power of data and continue to rely on their experience and their instincts.
However, more and more executives are becoming very data hungry, especially if they see results that break down their assumptions. I find that if this happens once, they tend to use data more to validate or invalidate their assumptions, but they become very data-driven.
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