(US & Canada) VIDEO | Speak to Customers in Terms Meaningful to Them — GE Digital VP of Digital Transformation

(US and Canada) Maggie Hubble, VP of Digital Transformation at GE Digital, speaks with Susan Wilson, Group VP and Americas Solutions Leader at Informatica, in a video interview about creating a learning environment, using data effectively, data quality for time monetization and customer retention, and building a data catalog and feedback system to drive business value.

At the onset, Hubble promotes the idea of creating a welcoming and inclusive learning environment through the development of a curriculum for data science, analytics, and development tools. To further strengthen that environment, she suggests utilizing lunch-and-learns to discuss what has been learned and having discussion forums.

To provide a better understanding and confidence in data, Hubble recommends creating data councils and assembling people to collaborate on important data elements. She explains that it is critical to focus on key components that affect metrics and move business units forward. She also suggests creating a community of practice rather than seeking a center of excellence. This encourages education, openness, and participation to bring people to the table.

Hubble emphasizes the need for continual education to help explain why a data council meeting matters and how it can help serve the business. She further reminds people that it is okay to not have all the answers right off the bat and urges them to be willing to change their minds by not pressuring themselves to make decisions that cannot be changed later.

In addition, Hubble discusses assessing the number of CDE (Continuing Development Education) units and tracking usage statistics of the data marketplace. The team aims to measure the number of individuals attending every month and week.

To assess the business relevance, the team focuses on deriving benefits from resources and funding given to the effort, states Hubble. These benefits include reducing manual data manipulation and eliminating human error caused by manual movement of data between systems. This further drives automation and digital transformation.

Hubble states that monetization of time and improvement of customer retention can be achieved with the right kind of data quality. She highlights that by understanding what products customers own, their version, and their business strategies, organizations can align them and make the process less straightforward.

She further advocates speaking to customers in business terms that are meaningful to them, which, in turn, requires organizations to improve data quality. Moving forward, Hubble suggests that there are two parts to developing technology and data:

• Building the foundation of data to be able to use higher levels of technology
• Making data approachable and available to everyone

Delving further, she recommends building a data catalog with lineage and atomic data and making data products available through a marketplace. Furthermore, Hubble believes that data should be clear and readily accessible without needing several phone calls. Taking this one step further, she asserts that data should be able to solve a problem or answer a query.

Thereafter, Hubble highlights enabling people to give feedback and provide reviews to assess the usefulness of products. In addition, she prioritizes the need for a ‘directly responsible individual’ on data elements to promote ownership, responsibility, and transparency.

Concluding, she states that this individual-ownership approach to data is seen to have a positive impact on speed. Ultimately, the feedback system is helpful and useful for a data-driven business, she says.

CDO Magazine appreciates Maggie Hubble for sharing her invaluable insights with our global community.

See more from Maggie Hubble

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Operational Metrics Is the Heartbeat of the Data Business