Russell Barker: Securing Enterprise-Wide Data Strategy Buy-In

Russell Barker, Global Head of Macro Data Strategies at Morgan
Stanley, outlines how he partnered with colleagues at all levels of
the business to identify and refine the four strands of the firm’s
data strategy

Executive sponsorship may be a vital ingredient for data strategy
success. But in an enterprise as large as Morgan Stanley,
developing that strategy through a purely ‘top down’ approach is
a recipe for trouble.


In this episode of the Business of Data podcast, Morgan Stanley
Global Head of Macro Data Strategies Russell Barker reveals how
he consulted extensively with business stakeholders to develop
the financial services giant’s approach to data.


He says this process was essential for aligning the firm’s
strategy with the needs of different departments and business
units, as well as identifying the common threads that tied
everything together.


“[Business] users really understand what they want to do,” he
says. “The bit they may not get is how they can do it with data
and new techniques.”


“The very first thing we did was talk to a lot of people,” he
continues. “I probably talked to more than 100 people, asking
what their current data usage was, what they currently liked,
what their current pain points were and what they thought could
be the ‘big wins’ if we did some new stuff.”


In this way, Russell learned that data discovery, data
accessibility, data quality and data governance concerns were the
four threads that tied the pain points of stakeholders across the
business together.


He adds: “Then, we cherrypicked very specific business [use]
cases that allowed us to deliver something directly to their
desks, but also allowed us to start building the infrastructure
around it.”


For Russell, this consultative approach is the best way to align
a company’s data team with the wider business. He views
communicating the needs of the wider business to his executive
sponsors as an integral part of his role.


“One of the things I’ve found [to be] great in my role at Morgan
Stanley is that my bosses trust me,” he says. “They have faith in
me and the [people] I work with know that I understand their
businesses and that I will listen.”


“It’s all about letting the business needs drive the strategy,”
he concludes. “Unless you have buy-in from the people on the
trading floor, [a] top-down approach isn’t going to help.”
Key Takeaways


Executive sponsorship alone is not enough.
Enterprises must gather input from across the organization to
ensure their data strategies meet the needs of their staff


Consult extensively with company stakeholders.
Data leaders must develop a deep understanding of the company
pain points that data can address and use this as the basis for
their strategies


Build a data roadmap around the common
threads. Start with specific use cases that can
deliver ‘quick wins’, but ensure they feed into an overarching
framework that will benefit everyone