Episode 14 Drew Smith: Closing the Gap Between Business and Data Teams

In my 14th episode I speak to Drew Smith VP International Institute for Analytics. We talk about: 1) His journey through through data and business 2) The resurgence of Data Strategy 3) Making the leap from the business side to driving analytics at IKEA 4) Closing the gap: how business and data teams have grown apart 5) His advice to Retailers for 2021 and what's important from a supply chain analytics perspective About Drew: With close to 20 years of experience, Drew has worked on both the business side of analytics, leveraging insights for business performance, and on the delivery side of analytics driving the use of enterprise analytics. As the Vice President of IIA’s Analytics Leadership Consortium he engages with analytics thought leaders and top analytics practitioners in the IIA Community to deliver impactful meetings and valuable content, helping to keep analytics leaders in the lead. Before joining IIA, he led the data analytics and governance team at IKEA’s global headquarters in Europe. He made heavy use of analytics in various leadership roles across the IKEA value chain in both the United States and Europe. He credits his business success largely to his early and avid adoption of analytics to help drive his decisions and is passionate about helping other organizations do the same. He received his MBA from Penn State and his undergraduate degree from Boston University. About Samir: Samir is a data strategy and analytics leader, CEO and Founder of datazuum. He has a history of helping data executives and leaders craft and execute their data strategies. His passion for data strategy led him to launch the Data Accelerator Workshop, and host the Data Strategy Show. After a career in both private and public sectors Samir launched the datazuum brand in 2012, with a view to working with executives to deliver data strategy at a time when data was not seen as a business asset.  Today datazuum delivers projects across both private and public sectors including: Charities, Financial Services (Banking & Insurance), Government, Housing & Construction, Law Enforcement, Logistics, Media & Publishing, Outsourcing, Postal, Retail, Telecoms, Transport and Utilities. Samir has 20 years of international experience across Europe, North America, and Africa. Is a regular speaker at international conferences, coach / mentor, a charity fundraiser, and youth champion for Working Knowledge - supporting young people to achieve their personal and career goals in life. Samir lives in London with his wife and daughter. Contact details for Samir LinkedIn: Samir Sharma Email: [email protected] website: www.datazuum.com