Teams-meeting with Samet Boyaci Part 2

Har du inte läst första delen av intervjun med Samet Boyaci hittar du den här.

A few weeks ago, we had the privilege of speaking to Samet Boyaci from NA-KD on data-driven business methods. He shared his background, work, and ambition at NA-KD and had exciting reflections on how the data-driven work could move forward. Hence – we elaborate further based on his input below!

Agile sprints in the data-driven procedure

Samet underlines the importance of communication during the entire product cycle safeguards quality in the data-driven work. At NA-KD, IT and business leads will work together from the earliest development until the final output of the sprint – and according to Samet, this is the key to the company’s success in the data-driven work.

At the beginning of each sprint, product owners from IT will speak to business teams about the current setup to understand, collect and define new requirements. The business teams are the actual users of data and know the purpose better, and from there, IT can start working on a solution.

The solution will then be returned to the business owners or other stakeholders, and new capabilities are explained and discussed. Adjustments may be made to proposed solutions to improve quality, and work is iterated – moving towards a common goal of efficient tools for a successful business.

What challenges still lie ahead?

There are challenges in all companies. In retail – businesses grow fast, and IT may end up lagging. Therefore, IT must be “part of the business teams” and, like at NA-KD, part of the strategy.

For example – it is not uncommon for companies within retail to venture into new markets and invest in new areas. They may initially sell clothes and shoes – and obviously, data collection and IT are adjusted accordingly. Then management decides to benefit from good logistics and systems and explore other areas – like furniture or groceries.

From a data perspective, it is an entirely new market with an altered perspective, and existing data collection must change accordingly. For example, data contents with feedback on sizes and colors are relevant in the market of clothes and shoes – but not really to furniture and not for groceries.

Hence, the inclusion of IT and data owners early allows for timely adjustments to data models and analysis.

What other input do you have on the development of the data-driven community of today?

10-15 years ago, many IT systems and tools were out of the box, and it was altogether the same formats everywhere and limited possibilities to adapt. Now, in 2021 there are numerous opensource options where you can pick and choose according to your needs, and you can better develop and customize depending on the organization’s needs.

The power of data is also more central to the business and allows for more investment in tooling and people to improve. NA-KD has been an early adapter with management that believes in the possibilities. It allows for a culture where you can try new alternatives to see if you get what you expect. In a way – that is truly data-driven!

“Failure is included in the process and allows for improved decision next time.” - Samet Boyaci

That sounds good – in a larger perspective – what do you see as remaining challenges within data-driven?

The true remaining challenge is probably to communicate why we need it. Do make the end-users and stakeholders see the benefit of the work and make IT understand why the setup is required.

To pull the data is only the first step. The challenge lies in understanding how data can and should change the way that you are working. People tend to protect the way you work today since you know it and are comfortable in it. To allow data-driven work to have a real impact, you sometimes need to pull people out of that comfort zone. It is an essential part of any data-driven project that you need to address.

The way to do that is to listen, communicate, encourage, and investigate and always stay up to date with new ideas and methods. If you stay within your daily routine and work, you will miss information from outside of the company – and then it is hard to improve.

“Information is everywhere, and you need to extract what is relevant and important, apply it in your context, and learn from it.” - Samet Boyaci

With those words, we leave Samet Boyaci with a warm thanks for your time and thoughtful and inspired input into the data-driven journey. We wish you and NA-KD a continued incredible journey and will be curious to follow. Meanwhile – we will value the input above on how to be truly data-driven.