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Harnham's 2019 Salary Guide: The Launch Event

Talitha Boitel-Gill our consultant managing the role
Author: Talitha Boitel-Gill
Posting date: 5/16/2019 10:07 AM
The 2019 Harnham Salary Guides are nearly here.

Last night saw a hundred of Data & Analytics' top professionals gather to get their hands on an advanced copy and hear from some of the best in the industry. 

With talks from Tom Spencer (Aviva), Mark Ainsworth (Schroders), and Anna Decoudu (118 118 Money), attendees were treated to insights into some of the world's best Data teams. 

A huge thank you to everyone who came along, we hope you found the evening as enlightening as we did. 

Our UK, US and European Salary Guides will all launch online mid-June. To be one of the first to get your hands on a copy, sign up to our mailing list here. 

Related blog & news

With over 10 years experience working solely in the Data & Analytics sector our consultants are able to offer detailed insights into the industry.

Visit our Blogs & News portal or check out the related posts below.

The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Computer Vision

The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Computer Vision

“Don’t judge a book by its cover”. We use this adage to remind ourselves to go deeper and to look beyond the superficial exterior. Except, sometimes, we can’t, or won’t. Sometimes, our perceptions are pre-programmed. Think family, peer pressure, and social influences. But what about computers? What do they see? In a digital landscape that demands privacy but needs information, what are the advantages and disadvantages of Computer Vision? The Good: Digital Superpowers  Let’s be clear, Computer Vision is not the same as image recognition, though they are often used interchangeably. Computer Vision is more than looking at pictures, it is closer to a superpower. It can see in the dark, through walls, and over long distances and, in a matter of moments, rifle through massive volumes of information and report back its findings. So, what does this mean? First and foremost, it means Computer Vision can support us in our daily activities and business. It may not seem like it at first glance, but much of what the computer sees is to our advantage. Let’s take a deeper look into the ways we use Computer Vision today. Big Data: From backup cameras on cars to traffic patterns, weather reports to shopping behaviours and everything in between. Everything we do, professional to personal, is being watched, recorded, and used for warning, learning, saving, spending, and social. Geo-Location: Want to know how to get from Point A to Point B? This is where Geo-location comes in. In order to navigate, the satellite must first pinpoint where we are and along the way, it can point out restaurants, shops, and services to ease us on our way.Medical Imaging: X-rays, ultrasounds, catheterisations, MRIs, CAT Scans, even LASIK are already in use. Add telemedicine and the possibilities are endless. The application of these functions will allow faster and more accurate diagnoses and help save lives.Sensors: Motion sensors that only turns a light on when a heat signature is nearby are already saving your home or business money on your electric bill. Now, during a shop visit when you are eyeing an intriguing product, your phone may buzz with a coupon for that very item. Computer Vision sensors are now tracking shopper movements to help optimize your shopping experience.Thermal Imaging: Heat signatures already help humans detect heat or gas and avoid dangerous areas, but soon this function will be integrated into every smart phone. Thermal imaging is no longer used just to catch dangerous environments, it’s used in sport. From determining drug use to statistics and strategy, this is yet another example . The Bad: Privacy Will Forever Change  Google is 20 years old this year. Facebook is 15. Between these two media tech giants, technological advances have ratcheted steadily toward the Catch-22 of both helping our daily lives, whilst exposing our data to our employers, governments, and advertisers. Computer Vision will allow them to see you and what you’re doing in photos and may make decisions based on something you did in your school or university days. We’re already pre-wired to make snap judgements and judge books by their cover, but what will these advancements do to our daily lives? Privacy will change forever.  We document our lives daily with little regard to the privacy settings on our favourite social media apps. GDPR has been a good start, but it’s deigned to protect businesses and create trust from consumers, rather than truly offer privacy. So far, the impact on our privacy has been limited as it still takes such a long time to sift through the amount of data available. However, the time is coming soon, where we’ll need to perhaps think of a privacy regulation businesses, employers, and governments must follow to protect the general population. Fahrenheit 451, 1984, and Animal Farm were once cautionary tales of a far-off future. But Big Brother is already watching and has been for quite some time. Police monitor YouTube videos. Mayors cite tweets to justify their actions. And we, thumb through our phones tagging friends and family without discretion.  Like every new technological advancement there are advantages and disadvantages. As Computer Vision becomes increasingly prevalent, we’ll all need to be aware of the kind of data we supply from to text to image. We can’t go back to the way things were, but we can learn about ourselves through the computer’s lens. And when it comes to computers and their capabilities, don’t judge a book its cover. If you’re interested in Data & Analytics, we may have a role for you. Take a look at our latest opportunities or get in touch with one of our expert consultants for more information. 

Kian Dixon

Kian Dixon

25. April 2019

A Q&A With Dyson’s Data Governance CDO

A Q&A With Dyson’s Data Governance CDO

Mridul Mathur is a skilled Senior Program Director with more than 15 years of experience working in businesses from Deutschebak to Dyson. He has a proven track record of successfully delivering large and complex cross-functional programs and building high performing teams from scratch. In last five years the main focus of his work has been in the area of Data Management to address the issues and challenges organisations have faced in the wake of various new regulations. Data Management and Data Governance are hot topics at the moment. Do you feel that attitudes have changed towards the fields since the beginning of your career? It’s been a very big shift. Going back to my involvement at Deutsche Bank around 2007, we were managing Data purely because we needed to create a Credit Risk position so that we could explain to the Bank of England and other regulators what we were doing. We didn’t really look beyond that.  But now, if you look at the industry, we want to use Data to not only calculate our Risk position but to derive value out of that Data.  It's something that can give a company a competitive advantage  one of those things that can significantly change a business. I personally feel that the turning point, not just for Deutsche Bank but for everybody was the market crash that happened in 2008.  A lot of the company did not have Data Management skills, or the ability to bring the Data together to understand exposures. Those who had exposure against Lehman, for example, could not recover any of the money they lost. That was the big turning point for all of them, when they actually lost hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of revenue and loans overnight. They didn’t have the right Data, in the right place, and it cost them. What major issues do you see successful Data Governance facing over the next 12 months? I think we're still going through a phase of understanding and internalizing the issue. By that I mean that we understand that our Data is important and how it can help us not only manage Risk but create value. But, when it comes to actually applying it, we are hamstrung by two things:  One is that we haven't quite grasped the ways in which we can internalise that Data. We understand the value but the actual application is not really out there currently. Secondly, I think that in some places, we have too much activity. I've been in places where there have been competing Data agendas and competing Data Governance ideas. When people are not taking their organisational view and just looking to get ahead, it’s hard to achieve any real success.  If you were advising a company about to commence on a large Data Management transformation project, what advice would you give them? This links to the previous point really, and it’s a bigger issue in large companies. You need to have a business approach to Data Governance, as well as the IP capabilities to deal with a project of that scale. And what you find sometimes is that multiple groups get together and they each have a different view of what good looks like. They end up not communicating throughout the organisation and properly aligning everybody’s roles and responsibilities. These different agendas then end up causing issues because everyone has a different idea of what they want.  We need to be able to plan across the organization to get the right agenda and get the right properties in place. Then you can start the work, as opposed to each team just working where they think the biggest problem lies first.  What would you say are the biggest threats to a successful Data Management program? Obviously the above is one, but it leads to another which is really the lack of Senior Management sponsorship. If you don’t get the right level of sponsorship, then you don’t get the mandate to do what you need. This can cause huge delays and is definitely one of the biggest threats to your program being a success.  In finance, you worked within a highly regulated industry. How have your approaches changed now that you’re in a highly innovative, tech-driven environment? The approach is different. We do have challenges that others don't, but over and above, because we innovate and create things, there is an abundance of new information. Information protection and intellectual property protection is therefore at the top of the agenda. That drives the need for effective Data Governance and it really has to be at the forefront of the approach.  Data breaches have caused widespread reputational damage to companies such as Facebook and Yahoo. Have you found that companies now view Data protection as central to their commercial performance? Absolutely. People realize that they not only need Data to do their business, but they also need to protect that Data. These breaches have resulted in a greater importance being given to this function and every year I see it moving closer to the center of the organisation. There are very few large organisations left that haven’t recognized Data Protection as one of their formal functions. A lot of companies are now looking to build out their Data Protection teams from the ground up, starting with lower levels of analysts, but also management as well. It’s becoming a much greater priority and these big breaches are one of the driving factors.  What do you feel will be the most effective technical advancement within Data Management in 2019? I think, from a technological perspective, we still have some way to go with digital rights management. There’s now one or two solutions that are supposed to be at Enterprise level, but they’re not enough and they’re still not joining the digital rights management side of things with the Big Data Loss Prevention side.  So companies are having to rely on seeing this together with a combination of plugin software and various tools and technology. It’s sticking around the edges of the edges of a fix, but it’s not actually doing the job. I'd like to see these technologies develop because I think we're crying for some help in this area.  What is the biggest risk to their Data that businesses should be aware of? Not knowing where to get hold of Data. It is just mind boggling to me, that there has not been a single company that I have been a part of where we started a program and we knew where to get all our Data from. Obviously we knew where most of it was,  but we didn’t know where else it was and that what we were looking at was a comprehensive set of maps. It just continues to be the same at every business I have worked at.   What role does data governance have to play in protecting a business’ intellectual property? It plays a huge role. Firstly, a company needs to be very clear on their Data policies. This means regularly training teams on the importance of this, much like you would with health and safety. By clearly defining and educating people on the dos and don’ts of data handling you can better protect your intellectual property. I think getting the policy framework right and implementing it using digital rights management is crucial and good Data Governance relies on this.  When hiring for your teams, which traits or skills do you look for in candidates? There are two key parts; one is technical and the other non-technical. In my mind, it’s less about the technical because, ultimately, I just want someone who knows how to use ‘technology x’. They need to be able to make use of Data from a database, or be able to spot Data in an unstructured environment. But, for me, the most important skill is more of a characteristic: tenacity. I use the word tenacity because you have to put yourself out there. You have to ask people questions and you have to educate them. You can’t assume that people just understand Data you’re presenting them and you have to become their friends and learn to speak their language. It also really brings in the skill of being able to work with teams and across teams. Being a team player would absolutely be top of my list. Mridul spoke to Femi Akintoye, a Recruitment Consultant in our Data & Technology function. Take a look at our latest roles or get in touch with Femi.

Femi Akintoye

Femi Akintoye

17. April 2019

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