(US and Canada) Sandip Sahota, Enterprise CDAO, BMO Financial Group talks with Susan Wilson, VP Global Data Governance and Privacy, Informatica.

Sandip’s professional journey is spread across three different areas. During the initial part, he was in sales and trade execution, equity options, and worked for several data and analytics vendors, working with large organizations. The middle part of his career was concentrated for 15 years at Morgan Stanley, comprehensively involving data and analytics and every aspect of the organization.

The third phase of his journey is mostly centered around transformation and looking at transformation opportunities across several organizations like CPPIB, a prominent investment manager in Toronto and New York. And most recently, at the bank of Montreal, where he has been for about a year.

Apart from the recent issues with COVID, Sandip describes the current period as exciting. He states that if he thinks back and compares today’s work operation to how we were operating in 2000, and ponders: If this had happened in 2000, would we be able to operate as the organizations we are today, working from home with technology supporting us?

He thinks the stage at which organizations are today is remarkable, given the opportunity available today. The industry at large is looking at harnessing the power of data and analytics and how to construct the future strategy. At BMO, for example, they embrace the future as a digital bank. That means digital is not a channel for BMO, but it’s the way they are, everything they do, and how they do that with scale and purpose. So it’s truly a fantastic time to be a data leader, and this topic is central to many boards and many leadership teams. There is a significant investment being made in this region.

Referring to a stat he read recently, Sandip shares that the last two years have actually been about 12 years’ worth of acceleration in many industries. So, it’s a fantastic time to be a leader, an excellent time to be part of this journey, and he is looking forward to the transformation they have underway at BMO.

He notes that when a leader steps away from any change, their mental model starts with awareness; building awareness of the art of the possible. What’s out there? What are people doing? What does it look like? And that’s when the next step becomes relevant. How does one take that awareness of great ideas and make it relevant to the organization, strategy, and outcomes central to your organization?

He further shares that if one double-clicks on the next path, it becomes about belief and relevance, followed by a growth in confidence regarding the change they want to bring into the organization.