The Book Look: AI & The Data Revolution

I am just going to start off by saying that I am a Laura Madsen fan. Her writing style combines laugh-out-loud humor with practical experience, making her books both enjoyable and educational. Even some of the book’s subheadings, like “Let’s Not Do Dumb Stuff Faster” and “Kwality Is Job One,” made me laugh out loud. …

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Legal Issues for Data Professionals: In AI, Data Itself Is the Supply Chain

Data is the supply chain for AI. For generative AI, even in fine-tuned, company-specific large language models, the data that is input into training data comes from a host of different sources. If the data from any given source is unreliable, then the training data will be deficient and the LLM output will be untrustworthy….

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Data Governance Best Practices: Lessons from Anthem’s Massive Data Breach

In the insurance industry, data governance best practices are not just buzzwords — they’re critical safeguards against potentially catastrophic breaches. The 2015 Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield data breach serves as a stark reminder of why robust data governance is crucial.  The Breach: A Wake-Up Call  In January 2015, Anthem, one of the largest health…

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Data Professional Introspective: The Perennial Question

I’ve often encountered client staff, course students, and conference attendees who are grappling with the basic question: “What is the difference between Data Managementand Data Governance?”  It seems that the more our industry expands, the more frequently this question is asked.  ———- I attribute this to a few factors:  The increasing volume of data management…

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Data Crime: Just Move the Data You’ve Got

I call it a “data crime” when someone is abusing or misusing data. When we understand these stories and their implications, it can help us learn from the mistakes and prevent future data crimes. The stories can also be helpful if you must explain the importance of data management to someone.  The Story  One financial institution…

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The Rising Importance of AI Governance

AI governance has become a critical topic in today’s technological landscape, especially with the rise of AI and GenAI. As CEOs express concerns regarding the potential risks with these technologies, it is important to identify and address the biggest risks. Implementing effective guardrails for AI governance has become a major point of discussion, with a…

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Crossing the Data Divide: AI Data Assistants — A Data Leader’s Force Multiplier

The focus of my last column, titled Crossing the Data Divide: Data Catalogs and the Generative AI Wave, was on the impact of large language models (LLM) and generative artificial intelligence (AI) and how we disseminate knowledge throughout the enterprise and the future role of the data catalogs. Spoiler alert if you have not read…

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Creative Ways to Surf Your Data Using Virtual and Augmented Reality

Organizations often struggle with finding nuggets of information buried within their data to achieve their business goals. Technology sometimes comes along to offer some interesting solutions that can bridge that gap for teams that practice good data management hygiene. We’re going to take a look deep into the recesses of creativity and peek at two…

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How Data Analytics Is Transforming Due Diligence

Due diligence is the complex process of assessing a potential investment and ensuring it is a sound one. It involves the gathering, classifying, and analyzing of large volumes of data. Given its very nature, it’s the perfect field for data analytics, which can speed processes up and assess the quality and reliability of data. Due…

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The AI Playbook: Providing Important Reminders to Data Professionals

Eric Siegel’s “The AI Playbook” serves as a crucial guide, offering important insights for data professionals and their internal customers on effectively leveraging AI within business operations. The book, which comes out on February 6th, and its insights are captured in six statements: — Determine the value— Establish a prediction goal— Establish evaluation metrics— Prepare…

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