(US and Canada) Steve Muskopf, Director of Data and Advanced Analytics at IGS Energy, speaks with Kensu CEO Eleanor Treharne-Jones, in a video interview about the outlook for the energy industry in 2023, the benefits of data observability, and data quality responsibility.

According to Muskopf, the energy industry may not be hit as hard by the economic downturn of 2023 as other industries. He adds that people always need energy but are looking for better pricing.

Observability of data means understanding its health, relevance, amount, and lineage in the systems, Muskopf explains. With data observability, he notes, businesses can be more reactive than proactive.

Regarding IGS Energy’s data observability strategy, Muskopf says that it started on the advanced analytics side. The first project involved machine learning and algorithms predicting customer demand at an individual account level.

He also mentions the idea of building a data catalog solution to understand the freshness and lineage of data. One of the first steps is getting together with product managers to uncover their observability goals.

Sharing his view on the benefits and success criteria for data observability, Muskopf says it increases accuracy, which leads to better decision making. While there are a lot of KPIs around performance and uptime, Muskopf says, success is more about confidence in the data.

In response to the question of ownership, he explains that the business teams are the primary source of data and play an essential role in data quality. However, he emphasizes that they need to be aware of what they do and that the data teams are responsible for ensuring accurate data is shared with business stakeholders.

CDO Magazine appreciates Steve Muskopf for sharing his insights and data success stories with our global community.

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