(US and Canada) Srinivasan Sankar, Enterprise Data and Analytics Leader, The Hanover Insurance Group, speaks with Robert Lutton, Vice President, Sandhill Consultants, about the data literacy required for modern data and analytics and the need for business involvement in all data projects.

Sankar says that modern data and analytics platforms are about having access to the right data at the right time and quality for all business users. It also includes the self-service, self-sustained, scalable performance, and accessibility aspects. 

He shares how he established a program at Hanover that allowed business stakeholders to access data almost instantaneously. He highlights another aspect of modern data and analytics: data democratization and enhancing access with proper security, privacy, and access controls.

Speaking on the need for data leaders to have expertise in data and analytics to be successful, he notes that data literacy training programs are not limited to IT or data consumers. It starts from the top with the CEO or a CFO.

Sharing insights on the best way to engage the business in data literacy, he says that business data intelligence cannot exist without business involvement. He suggests that data professionals involve the company at the stakeholder level.