#204 Data Is The Foundation That Makes Digital Transformation Sing With Harjot Singh, former CDO of RAC

This week we are thrilled to welcome Harjot Singh, who had been the CDO of RAC in WA until very recently. Singh is a true expert of and champion for transformation in the workplace, and has deep insights on data strategy and data governance to share. “Data drives a digital transformation in any organisation.” Singh said. “Everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon around digital transformation, but most organisations struggle to understand where to start. As Singh explains on the podcast, there is a specific order with which organisations need to approach transformation. It starts with data, which organisations should already be investing in because monetising data is one of the biggest opportunities in business. From there the data can be leveraged into machine learning and, eventually, AI. Related to this, however, Singh also mentions that organisations need to better understand the business drivers behind what they are doing with data and the digital transformation journey. “I wrote an article on LinkedIn that was around the five common mistakes to make in digital transformation,” Singh said. “If people think that digital transformation is only about technology transformation, it’s going to fail.” From there, Singh and host, Felipe Flores, discuss the impact of regulation in Australia on innovation, how companies are working within those challenges, and how various highly regulated sectors – including insurance and financial services – are finding new opportunities. Ultimately, however, as Singh says, it all comes back to data. “I say data and digital in the same sense, because I treat them as two sides of the same coin – one is incomplete without the other. Data is the bullet and digital is the gun to launch the bullet – without both you’re not going to have much of an effect.” For deep insights on the strategy and opportunity behind digital transformation, and the deep role of data in it, check out the full podcast! Enjoy the show! Join us in Melbourne for Scaling AI with MLOPS:  https://www.datafuturology.com/mlops Thank you to our sponsor, Talent Insights Group! Read the full podcast episode summary here.