It started in a room where nobody could understand each other.
In 2014, at a client kick-off, the technical architects sat on one side of the room with a data model nobody else could read. The commercial leaders sat on the other. Eventually one of them said, “Just give us the data and we’ll work out what to do with it.”
That is how most data & AI money gets wasted: technology first, business question second. So we flipped it. Start with the decision the business needs to make, then work back to the data, people and technology it needs.
That idea became the Data & AI Strategy Canvas, refined through more than twenty versions since. It is still how every datazuum engagement works.
A note from Samir
Founder, datazuum
I’ve spent more than 20 years in data and AI, in the UK, Europe, the US, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, across financial services, retail, logistics, telecoms, media, law enforcement, the public sector and many others.
The pattern is the same everywhere. The technology usually works. The investment often doesn’t pay back, because nobody tied it to a decision the business needed to make.
I set up datazuum to fix that, and I lead every engagement myself. I wrote the method down in The Strategy Canvas: A Field Guide for Data & AI, and I talk to the people doing this well on The Data Strategy Show.
If you want an honest view of whether your data & AI spend is working, I’m happy to give you one.
Samir Sharma
Our values
What you can hold us to.
Trust
We do what we say we will do, protect what clients share with us, and give advice that is independent of what it earns us.
Realistic
We tell clients what is actually achievable with their data, people, budget and time: not what is fashionable, or what we think they want to hear.
Plain Speaking
No jargon, no hype, no hiding behind frameworks. If something will not work, we say so clearly and early.
Outcomes Focused
We judge our work by what changes in the client’s business, not by the documents we hand over.
Relentless Pursuit of Value
Every recommendation, workshop and day we charge for must earn its place against a measurable return. If it is not creating value, we stop it or change it.
Do What’s Right
For the client and the people affected by the work, even when it costs us the next piece of business.
