Nadiem von Heydebrand’s Post

Last week, our team joined the CDAO Fall event in Boston as Networking Sponsor Partners, an opportunity to connect with brilliant data and AI leaders from across industries and exchange ideas on where the field is heading. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝘁: Conversations and sessions revolved around how to better cooperate with business partners and use storytelling to make data more impactful. There’s a clear shift from long AI proof-of-concept phases to a “fail fast and iterate immediately” mindset, while teams are learning to balance creativity, innovation, and fast execution in data & AI initiatives.  GenAI and agents were everywhere, from discussions on their power and business potential to reflections on challenges like hallucinations and AI rogues. And, of course, the big-picture vision of general artificial intelligence continued to spark curiosity and debate. 𝗔 𝗳𝗲𝘄 𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱: - “𝗥𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗮𝗴𝗲: 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻” by Victoria Gamerman, PhD (Boehringer Ingelheim), highlighting how to break silos, align data & AI teams with business goals, and move from data governance to data intelligence. - 𝗣𝗮𝗻𝗲𝗹: “𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗘𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁”, with leaders from Sanofi, MFS Investment Management, Cross River, Partners Capital, and Procter & Gamble, discussing the importance of strong data foundations, stakeholder storytelling, and tying data strategy closely to business priorities. - 𝗣𝗮𝗻𝗲𝗹: “𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲: 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗢𝗜 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗜𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀”, where Anu Sundaram (Rue Gilt Groupe) shared her team’s value-driven approach to demonstrating business impact. It’s exciting to see how the data & AI community continues to evolve, faster, bolder, and more connected to business outcomes than ever before. Until next time, Boston 👋 Shannon Haringx, Erik Pinedo, Jim Orefice, Milind Kanitkar, Rafique Awan, Marina Printz, Daniela Freitas Souza, Maksim Kravets, CFA, MBA, Kevin Nickerson, CPCU, Sadashiv K Vaasista, MBA, Ehrar Jameel, Nishit Dhilen Mehta, Xiao (Lydia) Li