Alwyn Thomas: Championing Digital Transformation Through Collaboration

Alwyn Thomas, Head of Data Strategy at the Financial Times,
discusses the importance of collaboration and buy-in when embarking
on organizational transformation

Data leaders agree that people are key to implementing business
transformation projects successfully. The challenge often lies in
communicating the vision with employees and fostering
collaboration to see that vision through.


Speaking on the latest episode of the Business of Data podcast,
Alwyn Thomas, Head of Data Strategy at the Financial Times, says
collaboration is fundamental to digital transformation. The
people developing a company’s transformation strategy should be
talking to those on the ground who’ll be implementing it.


“If the people don’t understand why the process is taking place
or why we’ve chosen a specific technology, it creates friction,”
Thomas says. “We won’t be moving in the same direction.”


He says speaking to each department in its own language will help
everyone understand how the transformation strategy applies to
them. The best way to do this, he says, is to first walk in a
person’s shoes.


He gives two examples of this: The first is of a data strategist
who joined Deliveroo, the food delivery service, and spent a day
delivering goods to get a sense of the business challenges. The
second is from Thomas’ time at the Bank of Ireland.


“We initiated an undergrad program where the graduates would do
one of their cycles with the data team,” he recalls. “They
learned where the data’s coming from and to use tools such as
Tableau so that, when they finished their rotation, they could
join any team and know how to access and use the data.”


“As a data strategist, these are the types of things I should be
focusing on – advising departments on a roadmap that will address
problems and enable them to make the right decisions moving
forward,” he says.
Tech Won’t Solve Every Challenge

Even as someone passionate about technology, Thomas admits that
tech won’t solve all the problems organizations face. He says
collaboration and breaking down silos is what has helps companies
to make connections where none previously existed, resulting in
new product offerings.


He mentions, for example, the recent partnership struck between
competing data visualization companies Tableau and Looker. The
agreement will make visualization and analysis projects more
accessible and easier to collaborate on.


“It’s a symbiotic relation between the two and you want that type
of relationship between data and other parts of your business,”
he concludes. “The innovation is in understanding how we can help
make the data available so business can see what’s going on and
understand it.”
Key Takeaways


Communicate with stakeholders on their level.
To establish trust between data and business teams, meet teams
on their level and ‘walk in their shoes’


Tech won’t solve everything. Innovation
depends on breaking down organizational silos, as well as data
ones


Focus on business needs. A data strategist’s
job is to enable the right decisions and processes for the
organization to move forward