VIDEO | Commonwealth of Virginia CDO: There are Many Critical Moving Components in a Data Strategy

(US and Canada) Ken Pfeil, Chief Data Officer, Commonwealth of Virginia, speaks with Denise Collison, SHI International Senior Vice President and President of Public Sector Sales, in a video interview about developing an impactful strategy, critical components of the strategy, and the human factor in analytics.

Pfeil says that every government agency has specific goals, and his office facilitates the data sharing, communication, and governance aspects that allow them to do things quickly.

Speaking about the tools or processes critical to a data strategy, Pfeil says that there are many critical moving components. He explains that it starts with a firm understanding of the problem and how to perform the analytics, and having the data and the people to do it.

From a governance perspective, Pfeil points out that everything has to be well documented and repeatable at a moment's notice. Similarly, he adds that the people need to be in the right roles, with core competencies and acumen.

When asked about using data to make decisions with foresight, Pfeil says that organizations first need to understand their data and why they have it. The hindsight can help them advance to a more predictive model, he suggests, getting more machine learning, AI and predictive analytics into play.

Pfeil reveals that the Commonwealth of Virginia is building towards it, and is exploring end goals like predictive healthcare among many different applications.

Sharing his views on the data-informed versus data-driven debate and the human aspect of data, Pfeil says that everything that the organization does regarding data is for the benefit of the people.

He indicates that the different agencies have business outcomes related at the top level, but are very different and focused at other levels. Concluding, Pfeil states that AI is by humans and for humans, and that machines are just the facilitators.

CDO Magazine thanks Ken Pfeil for contributing his thought leadership to our global community.

See more from Ken Pfeil

People are Resistant to Change by Nature