Most people who work on data science, AI, and digital transformation are painfully aware that it is often culture, not technology, that stymies their efforts. Many even know the high-level steps they’re supposed to take to fix this problem — invest attention and money into changing people’s mindsets and how the company uses data. But once companies and leaders get into the nitty-gritty details of how to do this, it can be hard to know what implementing those steps actually looks like.
What Does It Actually Take to Build a Data-Driven Culture?
Lessons from Kuwait’s Gulf Bank.
May 23, 2023
Yuji Sakai/Getty Images
Summary.
Building a data driven culture is hard. To capture what it takes to succeed, the authors look at the first two years of a new data program at Kuwait’s Gulf Bank in which they worked to build a culture that embraced data, and offer a few lessons. First, it is important to start building the new culture from day one, even as doing so is not the primary mandate. Second, to change a culture, you need to get everyone involved. Third, give data quality strong consideration as the place to start. Finally, building this new culture takes courage and persistence.