Rex Davis, CDO, Royal bank of Canada, speaks with Rehan Jalil, President and CEO of Securiti, about his professional journey, the top three predictions for 2024, and the role of CDO in operationalizing generative AI.

At the outset, Davis sheds light on his two decades of professional trajectory of working with Coles Meyer, and Dunnhumby, before becoming the enterprise CDO at the Royal Bank of Canada.

Passionate about finding data value in spaces where people do not look for it, Davis speaks about finding spots containing data that has multiple uses. He adds that data has become the center of attraction in present times.

When asked about top three predictions related to data for 2024, Davis predicts the following:

It will be a year of generative AI and people operating with generative AI will move quicker

A rigorous involvement of regulatory bodies with data and greater public understanding of how data is used

A lot of shelved things will be dusted off the shelf with the help of generative AI

With the advent of generative AI, many companies are working to better the processes that they have not touched for years, he adds. That conversation has been brought out by generative AI.

Commenting on organizational enablement keeping in mind innovation and data, Davis states that it boils down to the ability to put things into production. Then, people across organizations will have useful use cases.

Sharing his experience, Davis maintains that in his career so far, he has never found a business that does not know what to do with generative AI. Taking the instance of Royal Bank of Canada, he mentions how different business units propose how generative AI can be leveraged at work.

As a CDO, Davis states that it is his job to get processes and approvals in place to ensure generative AI can be operational. The most crucial aspect in all this is getting data in a good place beforehand.

For maximum utilization, it is fundamental to have a data culture, assess its quality, data literacy and provenance to understand where the organization is going with the data.

Concluding, Davis emphasizes the importance of putting in extra effort in the data care aspect, as it leads to better enablement which in turn generates value quickly.

CDO Magazine appreciates Rex Davis for sharing his insights with our global community.

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