Reflections and key takeaways from Data Innovation Summit 2022 in Stockholm
by Vegard Gerotti Slåttelid
20. Sep 2022, 4 minutes reading time
What we were left with coming back from Data Innovation Summit.
It was May 2022, and a long time since we had attended a physical conference. I was in my first week as sales director of BI Builders and together with my new colleagues, we were enthusiastic about the two upcoming days filled with learning, networking, and connecting with old and new friends at the Xpert BI booth. As we entered the exhibition area of the Data Innovation Summit it was very clear – we were not alone!My thoughts on exhibitor messaging: “DATA blahblahblah”
The event layout was great, exhibitors and attendees could easily connect in the exhibition hall, as this area was the main gateway to all sessions. The first thing I did was to walk the floors, talk with other exhibitors and get an overview of our closest competitors. And honestly, this was difficult – I really sympathize with our customers – it was overwhelming, and the number of products, platforms, tools, and methods seemed endless. Data integration, data governance, master data, data automation, data platform, data management, data warehouse, data analytics, etc. etc. It was difficult for vendors to “stand out”, and it was hard for customers to grasp the features and values of the different offerings. Our key takeaway was that going forward we need to provide a simple and clear message to our customers. The message should be tied to challenges that our customers are facing every day related to data availability and quality, the complex structure of business applications, and time-consuming activities in a time where we demand instant access to information to ensure accurate decision-making, optimized operations, and competitive advantage.
Recap of our speaker session
On day two, our CTO Terje Vatle and Co-founder Anja Loug Helland were on stage talking about what we see as the top three challenges in data and analytics today. These are not all linked to technological features, but more to strategy and method– i.e., the fundamentals on which you make decisions for the toolkit and architecture of your data solution.
Top 3 Challenges for cloud and data analytics today
1 Data Availability
You want a cost-effective, productive, and agile solution. You want the flexibility to change for price/performance optimization in the cloud and high productivity, i.e. fast delivery of data models or reports.
2 Data Quality
You want a data solution with data you can trust. That means having built-in standards, test automation, and data quality testing. Also, you want end-to-end data lineage, tagging of data, and automatic documentation for data management and governance.
3 Access to Talents
Since everyone is building a data and analytics solution, we are all fishing in the same pool for talents who are also more selective in which tasks they find motivating. Automating repetitive tasks will reduce the resources needed and free up time for more motivating tasks.
To learn more about these challenges and how we can help you overcome them, please check out the recording of our session "Attacking the biggest challenges in analytics head-on”
Data Innovation Summit 2023
We had a great experience attending the Data Innovation Summit this year and are looking forward to next year where the main theme will be: “Towards Human-Centered Data and AI-Driven Innovation”. We have signed up for the 2023 event, and are looking forward to discussing topics covering data, people, processes, and technology.
Hope to see you there.
Vegard Gerotti Slåttelid
Vegard is Chief Sales Officer at BI Builders and has a long experience working with customers as sales director, sales manager, and KAM within the area of data centers, software solutions, and storage. With his experience, Vegard understands our customers' needs, maps the right solution, and is committed to our customer’s success.
