>> from Cambridge, Massachusetts. It's three Cube covering M I T. Chief data officer and information quality Symposium 2019. Brought to you by Silicon Angle Media. >> Hi already. We're back in Cambridge, Massachusetts at the M I t. Chief data officer Information quality event. Hashtag m i t cdo i Q. And I'm David Dante. He's Paul Gillen. Day one of our two day coverage of this event. This is the Cube, the leader in live tech coverage. Joe Caserta is here is the president of Caserta and Doug Laney, who is principal data strategist at Caserta, both Cube alarm guys. Great to see you again, Joe. What? Did you pick up this guy? How did that all came on here a couple of years ago? We had a great conversation. I read the book, Loved it. So congratulations. A nice pickup. >> We're very fortunate to have. >> Thanks. So I'm fortunate to be here, >> so Okay, well, what attracted you to Cassard? Oh, >> it's Joe's got a tremendous reputation. His his team of consultants has a great reputation. We both felt there was an opportunity to build some data strategy competency on top of that and leverage some of those in Phanom. Its ideas that I've been working on over the years. >> Great. Well, congratulations. And so, Joe, you and I have talked many times. And the reason I like talking because you know what's going on in the market place? You could you could siphon. What's riel? What's hype? So what do you see? It is the big trends in this data space, and then we'll get into it. Yeah, sure. Um, trends >> are chief data officer has been evolving over the last couple of years. You know, when we started doing this several years ago, there was just a handful of people, maybe 30 40 people. Now, there's 450 people here today, and it's been evolving. People are still trying to find their feet. Exactly what the chief date officers should be doing where they are in the hierarchy. Should they report to the c e o the C I O u the other CDO, which is a digital officer. So I think you know, hierarchically. That's still figuring it out politically. They're figuring it out, but technically also, they're still trying to figure it out. You know what's been happening over the past three years is the evolution of data going from traditional data warehousing and business intelligence. To get inside out of data just isn't working anymore. Eso evolving that moving it forward to more modern data engineering we've been doing for the past couple of years with quote unquote big data on That's not working anymore either, right? Because it's been evolving so fast. So now we're on, like, maybe Data three dato. And now we're talking about just pure automate everything. We have to automate everything. And we have to change your mindset from from having output of a data solution to an outcome to date a solution. And that's why I hired Doug, because way have to figure out not only had to get this data and look at it and analyze really had to monetize it, right? It's becoming a revenue stream for your business if you're doing it right and Doug is the leader in the industry, how to figure that >> you keep keep premise of your book was you gotta start valuing data and its fundamental you put forth a number of approaches and techniques and examples of companies doing that. Since you've published in phenomena Microsoft Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook. Of the top five market value cos they've surpassed all the financial service is guys all ExxonMobil's and any manufacturer? Automobile makers? And what of a data companies, right? Absolutely. But intrinsically we know there's value their way any closer to the prescription that you put forth. >> Yeah, it's really no surprise and extra. We found that data companies have, ah, market to book value. That's nearly 33 times the market average, so Apple and others are much higher than that. But on average, if you look at the data product companies, they're valued much higher than other companies, probably because data can be reused in multiple ways. That's one of the core tenets of intra nomics is that Data's is non depleted ble regenerative, reusable asset and that companies that get that an architect of businesses based on those economics of information, um, can really perform well and not just data companies, but >> any company. That was a key takeaway of the book. The data doesn't conform to the laws of scarcity. Every says data is the new oil. It's like, No, it's not more valuable. So what are some examples in writing your book and customers that you work with. Where do you see Cos outside of these big data driven firms, breaking new ground and uses of data? I >> think the biggest opportunity is really not with the big giant Cos it's really with. Most of our most valuable clients are small companies with large volumes of data. You know if and the reason why they can remain small companies with large volumes of data is the thing that holds back the big giant enterprises is they have so much technical. Dad, it's very hard. They're like trying to, you know, raise the Titanic, right? You can't really. It's not agile enough. You need something that small and agile in order to pivot because it is changing so fast every time there's a solution created, it's obsolete. We have to greet the new solution on dhe when you have a big old processes. Big old technologies, big old mind sets on big old cultures. It's very hard to be agile. >> So is there no hope? I mean, the reason I ask the question was, What hope can you give some of these smokestack companies that they can become data centric? Yeah, What you >> see is that there was a There was a move to build big, monolithic data warehouses years ago and even Data Lakes. And what we find is that through the wealth of examples of companies that have benefited in significant ways from data and analytics, most of those solutions are very vocational. They're very functionally specific. They're not enterprise class, yada, yada, kind of kind of projects. They're focused on a particular business problem or monetizing or leveraging data in a very specific way, and they're generating millions of dollars of value. But again they tend to be very, very functionally specific. >> The other trend that we're seeing is also that the technology and the and the end result of what you're doing with your data is one thing. But really, in order to make that shift, if your big enterprises culture to really change all of the people within the organization to migrate from being a conventional wisdom run company to be a data really analytics driven company, and that takes a lot of change management, a lot of what we call data therapy way actually launched a new practice within the organization that Doug is actually and I are collaborating on to really mature because that is the next wave is really we figured out the data part. We figured out the technology part, but now it's the people part people. Part is really why we're not way ahead of where we even though we're way ahead of where we were a couple of years ago, we should be even further. Culturally, it's very, very challenging, and we need to address that head on. >> And that zeta skills issue that they're sort of locked into their existing skill sets and processes. Or is it? It's fear of the unknown what we're doing, you know? What about foam? Oh, yeah, Well, I mean, there are people >> jumping into bed to do this, right? So there is that part in an exciting part of it. But there's also just fear, you know, and fear of the unknown and, you know, part of what we're trying to do. And why were you trying Thio push Doug's book not for sales, but really just to share the knowledge and remove the mystery and let people see what they can actually do with this data? >> Yeah, it's more >> than just date illiteracy. So there's a lot of talk of the industry about data literacy programs and educating business people on the data and educating data people on the business. And that's obviously important. But what Joe is talking about is something bigger than that. It's really cultural, and it's something that is changed to the company's DNA. >> So where do you attack that problem? It doesn't have to go from the top down. You go into the middle. It has to >> be from the top down. It has to be. It has to be because my boss said to do it all right. >> Well, otherwise they well, they might do it. But the organization's because if you do, it >> is a grassroots movement on Lee. The folks who are excited, right? The foam of people, right? They're the ones who are gonna be excited. But they're going to evolve in adopt anyway, right? But it's the rest of the organization, and that needs to be a top down, Um, approach. >> It was interesting hearing this morning keynote speakers. You scored a throw on top down under the bus, but I had the same reaction is you can't do it without that executive buying. And of course, we defined, I guess in the session what that was. Amazon has an interesting concept for for any initiative, like every initiative that's funded has to have what they call a threaded leader. Another was some kind of And if they don't, if they don't have a threat of leader, there's like an incentive system tau dime on initiative. Kill it. It kind of forces top down. Yeah, you know, So >> when we interview our clients, we have a litmus test and the limits. It's kind of a ready in this test. Do you have the executive leadership to actually make this project successful? And in a lot of cases, they don't And you know, we'll have to say will call us when you're ready, you know, or because one of the challenges another part of the litmus test is this IittIe driven. If it's I t driven is gonna be very tough to get embraced by the rest of the business. So way need to really be able to have that executive leadership from the business to say this is something that we need >> to do to survive. Yeah, and, you know, with without the top down support. You could play small ball. But if you're playing the Yankees, you're gonna win one >> of the reasons why when it's I t driven, it's very challenging is because the people part right is a different budget from the i T budget. And when we start talking about data therapy, right and human resource is and training and education of just culture and data literacy, which is not necessary technical, that that becomes a challenge internally figuring out, like how to pay for Andi how to get it done with a corporate politics. >> So So the CDO crowd definitely parts of your book that they should be adopting because to me, there their main job is okay. How does data support the monetization of my organization? Raising revenue, cutting costs, improving productivity, saving lives. You call it value. And so that seems to be the starting point. At the same time. In this conference, you grew out of the ashes of back room information quality of the big data height, but exploded and have kind of gone full circle. So But I wonder, I mean, is the CDO crowd still focused on that monetization? Certainly I think we all agree they should be, but they're getting sucked back into a governance role. Can they do both, I guess, is >> my question. Well, governance has been, has been a big issue the past few years with all of the new compliance regulation and focus on on on ensuring compliance with them. But there's often a just a pendulum swing back, and I think there's a swing back to adding business value. And so we're seeing a lot of opportunities to help companies monetize their data broadly in a variety of ways. A CZ you mentioned not just in one way and, um, again those you need to be driven from the top. We have a process that we go through to generate ideas, and that's wonderful. Generating ideas. No is fairly straightforward enough. But then running them through kind of a feasibility government, starting with you have the executive support for that is a technology technologically feasible, managerially feasible, ethically feasible and so forth. So we kind of run them through that gauntlet next. >> One of my concerns is that chief data officer, the level of involvement that year he has in these digital initiatives again is digital initiative of Field of Dreams. Maybe it is. But everywhere you go the CEO is trying to get digital right, and it seems like the chief data officer is not necessarily front and center in those. Certainly a I projects, which are skunk works. But it's the chief digital officer that's driving it. So how how do you see in those roles playoff >> In the less panel that I've just spoken, very similar question was asked. And again, we're trying to figure out the hierarchy of where the CDO should live in an organization. Um, I find that the biggest place it fails typically is if it rolls up to a C I. O. Right. If you think the data is a technical issue, you're wrong, Right? Data is a business issue, Andi. I also think for any company to survive today, they have to have a digital presence. And so digital presence is so tightly coupled to data that I find the best success is when the chief date officer reports directly to the chief digital officer. Chief Digital officer has a vision for the user experience for the customer customers Ella to figure out. How do we get that customer engaged and that directly is dependent on insight. Right on analytics. You know, if the four of us were to open up, any application on our phone, even for the same product, would have four different experiences based on who we are, who are peers are what we bought in the past, that's all based on analytics. So the business application of the digital presence is tightly couple tow Analytics, which is driven by the chief state officer. >> That's the first time I've heard that. I think that's the right organizational structure. Did see did. JJ is going to be sort of the driver, right? The strategy. That's where the budget's gonna go and the chief date office is gonna have that supporting role that's vital. The enabler. Yeah, I think the chief data officer is a long term play. Well, we have a lot of cheap date officers. Still, 10 years from now, I think that >> data is not a fad. I think Data's just become more and more important. And will they ultimately leapfrog the chief digital officer and report to the CEO? Maybe someday, but for now, I think that's where they belong. >> You know what's company started managing their labor and workforce is as an actual asset, even though it's not a balance sheet. Asked for obvious reasons in the 19 sixties that gave rise to the chief human resource officer, which we still see today and his company start to recognize information as an asset, you need an executive leader to oversee and be responsible for that asset. >> Conceptually, it's always been data is an asset and a liability. And, you know, we've always thought about balancing terms. Your book sort of put forth a formula for actually formalizing. That's right. Do you think it's gonna happen our lifetime? What exactly clear on it, what you put forth in your book in terms of organizations actually valuing data specifically on the balance sheet. So that's >> an accounting question and one that you know that you leave to the accounting professionals. But there have been discussion papers published by the accounting standards bodies to discuss that issue. We're probably at least 10 years away, but I think respective weather data is that about what she'd asked or not. It's an imperative organizations to behave as if it is one >> that was your point it's probably not gonna happen, but you got a finger in terms that you can understand the value because it comes >> back to you can't manage what you don't measure and measuring the value of potential value or quality of your information. Or what day do you have your in a poor position to manage it like one. And if you're not manage like an asset, then you're really not probably able to leverage it like one. >> Give us a little commercial for I do want to say that I do >> think in our lifetime we will see it become an asset. There are lots of intangible assets that are on the books, intellectual property contracts. I think data that supports both of those things are equally is important. And they will they will see the light. >> Why are those five companies huge market cap winners, where they've surpassed all the evaluation >> of a business that the data that they have is considered right? So it should be part of >> the assets in the books. All right, we gotta wraps, But give us Give us the The Caserta Commercial. Well, concert is >> a consultancy that does essentially three things. We do data advisory work, which, which Doug is heading up. We do data architecture and strategy, and we also do just implementation of solutions. Everything from data engineering gate architecture and data science. >> Well, you made a good bet on data. Thanks for coming on, you guys. Great to see you again. Thank you. That's a wrap on day one, Paul. And I'll be back tomorrow for day two with the M I t cdo m I t cdo like you. Thanks for watching. We'll see them all.