One of the topics we’ve been discussing a lot in our Data Culture Club is the impact of AI on Data Culture – both in terms of the scope of the task (should we start calling it a Data & AI Culture, the way some CDOs are calling themselves CDAIOs?) and how it can help Data Culture professionals educate and engage their colleagues (for example, a chatbot to provide useful information or a virtual coach to encourage the right behaviours around data).
So at our recent Data Culture Club roundtable event in London, we asked our members:
- How ready is your organisation to start adopting and learning about AI?
- What does AI reimagination look like within your organisation?
How ready is your organisation to start adopting and learning about AI?
Almost all our members’ organisations had started using AI in some form, whether that was making Copilot/Gemini available to employees to make admin tasks less time-consuming, or with dedicated Data Science teams creating LLMs to help make business decisions and predictions.
Readiness depended to some extent on the type of organisation and how the change was being driven. Organisations in heavily regulated industries were more risk-averse, while others could encourage their employees to experiment.
In many cases, they are having to put in place guidelines about the practical and ethical use of AI as adoption was already increasing – partly driven by people using tools like ChatGPT outside the work environment.
Some members felt that they would never be ready for AI, so just had to get stuck in regardless!
You’re never going to be ready for AI, so ride the hype cycle
What does AI reimagination look like within your organisation?
Use the buzz
Many organisations are already starting to add AI Literacy to their Data Literacy programmes. As the ‘shiny new thing’, members are finding that even including “AI” in the title of their event or training course can result in more interest!
It is also focussing attention on getting the underlying data right. AI is dependent on quality and timeliness of data just as much as those old canned reports were, but now it’s getting the attention it deserves – music to our ears!
Create a bridge
Clearly there will be many people new to AI who need to build up their understanding of the concepts, practical uses – and limitations – of this new technology, so they can incorporate it into their everyday work.
But AI isn’t so new for some – the job title of Data Scientist has been around for a while, for example.
But there is perhaps now a ‘sweet spot’ of people who can act as a bridge in between the two:
- helping AI practitioners learn more about business use cases and how models can add value
- supporting complete beginners who need some help getting up to speed
Or, in other words: be the translator between those who want it and those who can do it!
AI is all over the news, but data gives it meaning and leadership gives it purpose
Engage the leadership team
As with so many things in Data Culture, getting leadership involved is key. They need to be going on the journey too, becoming comfortable with the tools and terminology and using it to make business decisions.
If leadership can communicate to the organisation the direction of travel, there needs to be a mechanism too for the organisation communicating up to leadership about what they need. They may come with solutions rather than requirements, but harness the excitement, and we can give people the understanding and the trust of what this technology can do for them.
About the Data Culture Club
A cross-industry community for an evolving discipline
Data Culture is relatively new as a concept, and still developing:
- everyone seems to have a slightly different definition of what Data Culture actually means
- it doesn’t feature much (yet) in traditional Data Management best practice frameworks
- many companies don’t yet have dedicated teams to drive it forward
So we created the Data Culture Club, a worldwide cross-industry community to bring together the people who are leading the way in changing their organisation’s attitude to data (whether they have ‘culture’ in their job title or not), to share their successes (and failures), and to provide inspiration and support to others in the same situation.
Our definition of Data Culture
A culture can be described as “the way things are done around here” – the shared values, attitudes and behaviours that are expressed in everyday activity.
So, a good Data Culture is one where data is a natural part of the way people work:
- everyone understands the meaning and business value of the data
- they have the tools, skills and confidence to use it
- they feel collective responsibility for looking after it
This is a broader term than Data Literacy, which is commonly used to refer to the training and education of individuals.
Join the club
We hold quarterly roundtables to allow members to meet in person, and have a thriving virtual forum for online discussion. If you work in this space, you’d be most welcome to join! Please get in touch with Araminta to learn more.
Araminta Huitson
Data Culture practice lead, Ortecha
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