Now that we are in the post-big data era (according to Gartner), it is important to take a step back from the hype that has characterized the Big Data Scientist movement of the past few years because two trends have become evident. First, Big Data projects have been about as successful as other IT projects – about 29% successful according to the 2015 Standish Group Chaos Report. Second, Data Scientists are generally assessed to be about 20% productive. The reason for both of these dismal statistics is simple—organizations are terrible about understanding how to use data as a strategic organizational resource. In fact, considering the data is our sole, non-depletable, non-degrading, durable strategic asset, it is really mind boggling how poorly it is managed. Having an actionable data strategy is the first, most critical step in exerting positive control over data and leveraging it in support of your organization’s business strategy. This talk will simply describe how you can: 1) Reduce the amount of data in your organization that is redundant, obsolete, or trivial (ROT); 2) Develop an inventory of the data that you have; 3) Determine how to prioritize among investments in data quality and improvement. Once understood, your organization will be better positioned to support its mission and take advantage of new and existing data sources while complying with relevant laws, regulations, and policies.

View the presentation, Data Strategy: It should be concise, actionable, and understandable by both business and IT!