Episode 15

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Published on:

11th Mar 2025

S5 | Ep 15 | Research on the Dark Side of Data; When Risks Outweigh Benefits with Heather Wade, Data Transformation Director at Johnson Matthey

In Episode 15, of Season 5 of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Heather Wade, Data Transformation Director at Johnson Matthey, where they discuss research findings that attempt to understand what happens when risks outweigh benefits, which includes;

  • Learnings from taking all the best bits from consumer data into a different industry
  • The reason for undertaking a DBA
  • Why there’s so much research written about the benefits of data but very little about the risks
  • Understanding the different types of risks your organisation faces
  • Delivering a piece of research about how firms tackle data related risks
  • Why there’s much more risk than the traditional cyber or privacy risks
  • Focusing on qualitative research as opposed to quantitative
  • How the research uncovered the differences in the CDO/Data Leader role
  • Whether the CDO tenure forces us to focus on value and benefits as opposed to risk
  • Discussing the risks of inaction as opposed to selling benefits
  • How the people and culture element of teams pose a large threat
  • The lack of difference between regulated versus unregulated industries
  • How firms should approach the balance between benefits and risk
  • Measuring potential risks
  • Why the biggest risks could be the lack of clarity around what a data function exists to do
  • Managing grey areas of risk (like sustainability)

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About the Podcast

Driven by Data: The Podcast
Designed for Data Enthusiasts to hear from the Data & Analytics industry's thought leaders
Orbition Group is delighted to bring you this podcast series, which is designed for Data Enthusiasts, to hear from some of the most high-profile Data, Analytics and AI thought leaders from around the globe.

Each episode will detail the guests journey to the top while bringing unique insights, drawn from first-hand experience on the industry’s most trending topics.

This podcast was created as a way for our industry's most respected leadership figures from across the world to give back to the Data & Analytics community, by sharing; knowledge, experiences and ideas, to inspire, innovate and provide real-life use cases on the industries most pressing topics/challenges.

About your host

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Kyle Winterbottom

Founder of Orbition Group, a Search and Talent Solutions business that operates exclusively within the world of Data, Analytics & AI.

I am hugely passionate about enabling organisations to drive decisions and obtain value from the use of Data, Analytics & Artificial Intelligence.

As such, I believe it is imperative that as a community, we share; knowledge, ideas, real-life use cases and inspiration to collectively give back to our industry.

Given my fortunate position of speaking with hundreds, if not thousands of leadership figures within the global Data & Analytics community each year , I feel it is my duty to share the successes, failures, challenges and opportunities.

Therefore, I have positioned Orbition Group to be a facilitator of that knowledge sharing, through these podcasts, events we host and public speaking.