Recent findings indicate a significant shift among decision-makers toward relying on evidence rather than instinct for organisational decisions. The confidence in delivering data strategies has risen from 48% in 2023 to 54%, showing a positive trend.

Additionally, 50% of respondents now rely on evidence-based decision-making, up from 39% in 2023, marking a 44% increase.

This move towards evidence-based approaches reflects a broader trend of improving data strategy implementation and highlights the growing importance of data in decision-making processes.

In this panel discussion, mastering data maturity and harnessing AI requires organisations to improve their data strategies. Panellists pointed out that successful data governance often hinges on addressing critical issues such as data quality, security, and privacy.

Effective data maturity involves understanding and managing data across various systems while fostering organisational culture and patience.

Furthermore, achieving AI integration requires rethinking business processes and products to align with the evolving role of AI. The focus is on creating a data-driven culture that supports continuous improvement and innovation through effective data management and use.

Joanna Gurry – Executive, Data Platforms at NAB discussed how organisations often mistakenly transform data executives into AI executives overnight, without acknowledging the collaborative effort AI requires.

She emphasised her own journey from a data practitioner to an AI expert, highlighting the need for diverse skills, including mathematicians, coders, architects, analysts, and security experts.

Effective AI deployment involves a team approach rather than assigning AI responsibilities to a single person. Joanna shared examples of successful AI use in compliance through computer vision, which enhanced accuracy and efficiency.

Dayle Stevens – OAM Executive, Data & AI at Telstra, added that AI can significantly improve employee performance, as seen in Telstra’s projects that helped frontline staff by managing knowledge more efficiently.

Claudine Ogilvie – Former CIO Jetstar, CEO HivePix & ADAPT Advisor, emphasised the importance of cautious, strategic AI integration, focusing on high-impact, business-led projects that align with organisational goals, and ensuring proper data quality and governance.

This thoughtful approach helps manage risks and maximises the benefits of AI, fostering a hopeful outlook on its potential to solve complex problems and drive cultural and operational changes within organisations.

 

Key Takeaways:

  • Shift to evidence-based decision making: Recent findings show a notable increase in the reliance on evidence-based decision-making among organisational decision-makers, with confidence in data strategies rising from 48% in 2023 to 54% and reliance on evidence from 39% to 50%, indicating a 44% increase in evidence-based approaches.
  • Importance of data strategy and governance: Panellists emphasised the need for organisations to enhance data strategies and governance to achieve data maturity and harness AI effectively. Key areas of focus include data quality, security, privacy, and fostering a data-driven culture that supports continuous improvement and innovation.
  • Collaborative AI deployment: Successful AI deployment requires a collaborative effort involving diverse skills such as mathematicians, coders, architects, analysts, and security experts. Effective AI integration involves strategic, business-led projects and proper data management, as illustrated by successful AI use cases in compliance and employee performance improvement.
Contributors
Joanna Gurry Executive, Data Platforms at NAB
Joanna Gurry is a commercially focused technology executive with 25 years’ experience in banking, insurance and telecommunications. Building and leading large data... More

Joanna Gurry is a commercially focused technology executive with 25 years’ experience in banking, insurance and telecommunications. Building and leading large data and analytics teams at NBNCo, IAG, Commonwealth Bank and KPMG, Jo has led successful transformations of culture and capability in large, complex businesses. Aiming always to strike the right balance between risk and compliance with strong commercial outcomes, Jo targets strategic relationships with great partners to propel an innovation agenda – driven by advanced analytics practices and underpinned by mature information management foundations.

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Claudine Ogilvie CEO at HivePix, ADAPT Advisor, and former CIO at Jetstar
Entrepreneur, CEO and board director with 20 years’ experience in strategy, technology leadership, and innovation. Claudine is the Managing Director of O&O... More

Entrepreneur, CEO and board director with 20 years’ experience in strategy, technology leadership, and innovation. Claudine is the Managing Director of O&O Consulting, co-founder and CEO of HivePix, and a Non-Executive board Director for Cuscal and Scyne Advisory. Claudine was awarded Top CIO50 in Australia in 2016. She has expertise in data, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, cyber security governance and risk management.

Previously, Claudine was a Non-Executive board Director for Youi Insurance. Claudine led the Digital and Data businesses and innovation for Compass Group Asia Pacific, and was the Group Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the Jetstar Group of Airlines (Jetstar’s Branded Airlines include Singapore, Japan, Vietnam, ANZ businesses & JVs), and Ridley Corporation; She led Consumer and Industrial Markets (CIM) at KPMG; and broad industry experience in sales, marketing, and product management.

She is a 2015 graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD). She has completed a Quantum Computing course at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has a Bachelor of Business from the University of Technology Sydney, Australia (B.Bus) and a Diploma of Business Management from the Ecole Supérieur de Commerce Reims, France (Dip.Mgnt).

Claudine is also an advisor and coach to innovative and bold leaders from a variety of industries. She is a champion for diversity, inclusion, ESG and the role it plays in business and leadership effectiveness.

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Dayle Stevens OAM Executive, Data & AI at Telstra, former GM Data at AGL
Dayle joined Telstra in July 2021 with nearly 30 years’ experience in the technology industry. She has held notable executive leadership roles... More

Dayle joined Telstra in July 2021 with nearly 30 years’ experience in the technology industry. She has held notable executive leadership roles in technology at companies such as NAB and AGL. Today Dayle leads Telstra’s Data & AI function.

 

Outside of Telstra, Dayle is a non-executive director at Beyond Blue, Australia’s most well-known and trusted mental health organisation, and a member of the IT Advisory Committee at Trinity College, University of Melbourne.

 

Dayle has long championed diversity in STEM across industry and age group boundaries, both through her own work and with global organisations aimed at encouraging women and girls to participate in STEM such as Robogals and Girl Geek Academy.

 

Dayle’s work has been recognised with multiple industry and professional awards, including being named in the CIO50 list of the best CIOs in Australia, the Australian Financial Review’s 100 Women of Influence, and being awarded an Order of Australia Medal for her services to information technology and to women. 

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Peter Hind Principal Research Analyst at ADAPT
One of the ICT industry’s foremost analysts and commentators, Peter Hind has spent over 25 years advising and talking on topics across... More

One of the ICT industry’s foremost analysts and commentators, Peter Hind has spent over 25 years advising and talking on topics across the technology industry. His primary areas of interest are the potential of technology to transform the way organisations operate, the change management obstacles executives encounter in realising this potential, as well as the tactics and techniques leaders have deployed to overcome these difficulties.​

With roles across IDC, Unisys, NCR, Sigma Data, and others, Peter now takes on multiple roles within ADAPT including the moderation of private events and roundtables, interviewing business executives about the strategies they are pursuing and assisting with the structuring of delegate surveys.​

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