(US & Canada) VIDEO | Establish Solid Use Cases Before Beginning Projects — Artera Services CDAO

(US and Canada) In an engaging video interview, Balaram Krishna Tidhi, Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Artera Services, speaks with Michael C Fillios, Founder and CEO of IT Ally and CDO Magazine Editorial Board Member, about his data journey, maintaining data quality and trust, fostering relationships between data and business people, strategies for value delivery, and Project Moneyball.

At the onset, Tidhi recalls a pivotal moment in his career when he was offered the opportunity to design a data warehouse for GE Plastics in 2000. He recalls this as the first chance to see the profound effect that data can have on businesses. This motivated him to explore how data can be used to transform organizations. He also shares how working with different industries and technologies helped him gain experience in navigating unique data challenges.

Tidhi’s standout experience comes from building a global data analytics team from scratch at Red Hat, where he learned the balance between data-driven decision-making and cultivating a data-centric culture. His role has been that of a translator between IT and the business, often resulting in digital transformation projects.

His storytelling ability got him an opportunity to become a part-time professor in FinTech at the University of Georgia. Eventually, he became a tech change agent with a holistic perspective on the data around him.

Further, Tidhi states that having reliable data is vital for successful processes. He emphasizes maintaining the quality and trust of data once delivered. He points out the need for data contracts and establishing guardrails to ensure data consistency.

Additionally, Tidhi stresses the importance of creating a feedback loop between data producers and consumers to ensure the data remains up-to-date. He comments on the importance of fostering strong relationships between data leaders and the business for data to play a more central role in the organizational strategy.

To ensure maximum focus on business objectives, Tidhi keeps an open communication channel with the executive team, having quarterly readouts. He notes how this ensures that the team and business understand the impact of actions and do not become distracted by the 'shiny object syndrome.' Tidhi affirms that keeping business in the loop with the data team helps drive value.

Delving deeper into value delivery, he shares that joining Artera allowed him to gain access to massive data but had difficulty accessing insights quickly. Through leveraging existing and new technologies, he worked with the data, creating proof of value for the team.

Thereafter, Tidhi reveals how with the use of change management and data governance techniques, the team created the ‘Project Moneyball’ aimed at offering immense value and understanding complex concepts to create a knowledge-backed use case. Tidhi suggests using an ‘icebreaker’ to explain complex concepts such as predicting data, data mining, and feature engineering. He further details the CRISP-DM framework, which entails investing time upfront to understand the business needs before conducting data preparation and modeling activities.

In conclusion, Tidhi recommends organizations establish a solid use case before beginning any project.

CDO magazine appreciates Balaram Krishna Tidhi for sharing valuable insights and data success stories with our global community.