(US and Canada) Carol Kim, Executive Director, Global Chief Data Office, IBM, speaks with Derek Strauss, Chairman, Gavroshe, about alternative ways to measure ROI and focus areas for business value delivery.

Kim says her team builds a business case for each qualified project to gauge the value of business initiatives at IBM. They start with a hypothesis, and the assumptions are tested via experiments. They are validated within a specific timeframe with quantitative and qualitative outcomes.

Kim highlights three focus areas for Chief Data Officers to drive business value.

• Be crystal clear about your data and AI strategy.

• Establish a multidisciplinary council for the data and AI strategy.

• Balance ambition with practical realities.

She notes that data and AI initiatives are not once-and-done exercises. They are constantly evolving and require tiny tweaks to large-scale innovation projects. She emphasizes that CDOs need to think of the broader aspects of data and AI strategies, such as their influence on customer loyalty, conversion rate, or any other metrics used to determine success.

Concluding, she says that initiatives should be prioritized according to the customer’s desirability, the business’ viability, technical feasibility, and data availability.