In a recent interview with AIM Research, Shashank Garg, CEO & Co-founder at InfoCepts shared valuable perspectives on the ever-changing realm of data and analytics. He highlighted that despite technological advances, there remains a significant discrepancy between data teams’ and business users’ assessment of analytics value.
Garg observed a shift from IT-centric to business-centric approaches to data & analytics, reflecting changes in buying patterns. He noted the swift adoption of modern data stack in the last 3 years, pointing out that this rush to modernize has led to complexity and overspending. Garg emphasized the critical need for simplifying data ecosystems and improving architecture, governance, security, and algorithm fairness to maximize AI benefits.
Addressing challenges in the industry, Garg noted the difficulty in building effective data and AI teams, the struggle to quantify ROI in data and AI investments, and the perpetual cycle of modernization. He emphasized the potential of generative AI in transforming data analytics, particularly in content generation and consumption, accelerating tech-enabled innovation, and improving user experience.
Garg advised CDOs to adopt an AI-first mindset, focus on end-to-end solutions, and retrain data analysts as storywriters to contextualize data effectively. For aspiring data professionals, he recommended focusing on understanding business contexts, cross-skilling, and becoming AI-fluent.
In conclusion, the transition to Data and Analytics 2.0 represents a significant shift in how data is viewed and utilized in decision-making processes. Despite advancements, fundamental challenges persist, necessitating a focus on leadership, culture, and innovative approaches to leverage data effectively.
