#210 The Government Transformation That Created Australia’s Top Analytics Leader, with Brad Petry, the Executive Director – Operations, Insights, and Digital Channels at the Department of Jobs

This week on the Data Futurology podcast, we have the special privilege of talking to the top analytics leader in Australia, according to IAPA (the Institute of Analytics Professionals of Australia). Brad Petry, the Executive Director – Operations, Insights, and Digital Channels at the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions in the Victorian Government, was awarded this accolade for his work in leveraging AI and machine learning to overcome biases in the recruitment process. He spends time on the podcast this week talking about what that means for the department, and the implications it has for recruitment more broadly. Over the past 18 months, Petry has been driving a digital transformation program across the department, something that has been made even more challenging because it has happened through the pandemic and because the data that he and his team handle is needed on a daily basis. There was no room for downtime or mistakes while the transformation was executed. At the same time, there was an enormous opportunity within the department to leverage automation and AI with data – in many cases for the first time – to improve the reliability of the data and productivity across the department. As Petry says, the key to success is to remember that it’s the data that’s the important element, rather than the software or context that the data is held and analysed within. “When we started, we said to ourselves that the thing we knew, and what was going to persist, was the data,” he said. “The technology and programs will come and go, but the data is something that will always be there and everything comes back to the data.” For a deep dive into driving a transformation agenda with data, tune in to this week’s podcast! Enjoy the show! Thank you to our sponsor, Talent Insights Group! Connect with Brad  https://www.linkedin.com/in/brad-petry/ See Brad’s presentation at Scaling AI with MLOPS:  https://www.datafuturology.com/mlops Join our Slack Community: https://join.slack.com/t/datafuturologycircle/shared_invite/zt-z19cq4eq-ET6O49o2uySgvQWjM6a5ng Read the full podcast summary here.