I some times joke to my customers and prospects that I have been doing data since long before it was fashionable.

One of the challenges of working in a relatively small market is that one tends to revolve through the same doors – having got a “not now” response i tend to come back six months or a year later, sometimes for years.

For a number of corporates that I have been dealing with for years there is a definite new focus and resolve to address data issues that we have been talking about for years.

I am in the habit of asking “What has changed?”

Data is about more than analytics

At one retailer the answer was “Our executives have finally realised that their massive IT investments are not delivering the process improvements they are paying for because of data issues.”

From a financial services company – “Our data problems are getting bigger – they are not going way. Business is taking this seriously”

The bottom line – business is finally taking ownership of solving the data problem

I’m excited!