Welcome to ThunderCast: Charged-Up Insights for People in Tech, where we explore the latest trends and innovations in the tech industry.
Data & Telecommunications in China
- Fan describes handling one-third of China Telecom’s data, equating to 400 million users.
- Insight into how Fan’s team extracted value from vast amounts of data for automotive clients.
- Building a data platform capable of processing one terabyte of data daily, reducing it to one gigabyte of actionable insights.
Lessons from Big Data Management
- Fan shares his belief that data is the “new blood” for businesses, surpassing the old “data is the new oil” adage.
- Three critical stages for businesses: earning data, building around data, and drawing insights from it.
- The necessity of owning data to remain competitive in the evolving market landscape.
Challenges in Data Adoption and Strategy
- Discussion of underinvestment in data and the need for senior management support.
- Importance of long-term investment in data, often requiring multi-phase approaches over several years.
- The significance of having a team with combined knowledge of business, technology, and data.
Recruitment & Talent Acquisition Challenges
- Fan and Chris discuss the difficulties of finding talent that combines breadth and depth of experience.
- The inefficiencies in current recruitment processes that may overlook highly skilled individuals.
- Chris shares his approach to meeting a wide range of candidates to find the right fit.
Opportunities for Data Leaders in Australia
- The rise of AI as a driver for data utilisation in business.
- The need for strong data governance and AI integration to remain competitive.
- Warning that businesses not currently leveraging AI and data risk falling behind.
Consulting and AI Disruption
- Fan predicts consulting will be one of the first industries significantly disrupted by AI.
- AI’s potential to automate and enhance tasks traditionally done by consultants.
- The importance of staying open-minded and entrepreneurial to adapt to these changes.
Advice for Chris McGowan & ThunderLabs
- Fan advises maintaining an open-minded and entrepreneurial approach at both individual and organisational levels.
- Emphasis on continual learning, adapting workflows, and embracing AI and data-driven strategies.
- The necessity of integrating AI into business practices to stay ahead of the curve.
