(US and Canada) Nate Murray, Chief Data Officer, Fifth Third Bank, speaks with Jason Masker, Field Chief Technology Officer, Stratascale, about getting executive sponsorship for transformative change and driving cultural change for transformation.

Murray says that while the value of data and what it can bring is well understood at Fifth Third Bank, the effort is also about ensuring that the business is not taking a step back. In the case of flat-lined investments, the opportunity would be to drive even more value by teaching others about the benefits of automating manual processes.

When asked if data roles are democratized to every individual in the organization, Murray says there have been phenomenal additions to the IT team from the business side. He explains that the IT side is trying to cross-pollinate with the business side to help them learn the data strategy and recognize the resulting benefits. They will then expand the skills and the culture to the rest of the organization.

Unlike five to seven years ago, when IT used to push change, today, it is the business side pulling and everybody needs to move fast to meet the requirements. Murray adds that the business side wants IT more now than ever, which creates an exciting ecosystem. The organization is now on the journey to increase enterprise data literacy which will eventually pay huge dividends in the longer term, Murray says.