Customer Data Management Expert | Master Data Management | Enterprise Technology | Data Governance
I work for and with leaders who are accountable for customer master data management, data strategy and governance. Specialized in delivering successful data management platforms and their related initiatives.
What attracted you to data management or IT, and why did you choose to pursue this career?
Customer data is a foundational pillar of every business. As companies grow, the management of quality customer data becomes more difficult and increasingly important. From typing sample programs out of COMPUTE! Magazine (remember that!) to academic research using census data sets and then into enterprise technology and master data management, technology and data have always been part of my work.
What has been your greatest career accomplishment so far, and why has it been important to your career?
My greatest accomplishments have always been slow to present themselves. Despite the varied complexities of the details, they are all the same! Taking a customer data challenge or new capability through requirements clarification then through design, build and launch. These steps and work cause fundamental change for a business and often launch career success for the people involved. The pride I feel when a client calls five or six years later to share a recent story about how the work we did together, is being used to support a new strategy or makes it to a Board level conversation is unbeatable – it fuels me personally and adds to the experiences and confidence I bring to my clients.
What are the two or three biggest challenges you face as a data management professional / CDO and how can we address them?
There are two big challenges that we must take to heart every day; 1) Ensuring that the work we’re undertaking has a noticeable, positive impact on the organization’s business. 2) Data management and enterprise technology, in general, is an ungoverned workforce. Despite all the individual certifications, we are not a regulated profession. As a result, we’re constantly making up new names for roles and terms which makes it impossible for organizations and teams to know who knows what until they are in the role and demonstrate their abilities. It is also difficult to understand each other unless we make a conscious effort to confirm our vocabulary. Compared to accounting or engineering, we are in a challenging position. We need to always keep these challenges in mind.
How do you see data management / the role of the CDO / IT changing in the next 2 – 3 years?
I cannot predict the future any better than anyone else; however, what I’d like to happen is for all IT and data silos to operate as capability groups that champion each other’s work and collaborate towards the organization’s common purpose. We often lose the plot that we’re all supporting the business and not technology or data unto itself.
Do you have any planned next steps for your career?
From a general perspective, I get satisfaction from helping people and solving problems. These are real outcomes of technology and data – likely why I’m so curious about how others approach their problems and solutions. So, my next step is more of the same, to seek out increasingly complex problems and find a way to offer my experience to solve them.
What is the single best piece of advice you have received in your data management / IT career so far? Why has it been so important to you?
Be cautious about thinking you know everything about anything. There are always opportunities to share your experiences and teach someone else, but there is always something new you can learn from them too! So listen more than you speak (two ears, one mouth) and keep an open mind.
Can you share something about yourself as a person that people wouldn’t know about you?
I’ve led a Board of Directors for a condominium corporation for nearly twenty years and a second for nearly ten; I consider them my community service. It is challenging because the vendors and staff I work with mostly engage with people with a problem they want to have solved immediately and are not shy about reminding them that they pay their wages through high fees. Yet, despite this, it is inspiring to see how they conduct themselves as professionals. Being empathetic and learning how to coach and negotiate through often emotional circumstances helps me develop in all aspects of my life.
If you have any questions about this interview, or if we can be of any service, please do not hesitate to contact us info@ewsolutions.com
