The Data Chief | Episode 66

How to Connect Data Strategy to Business Value

Dora Boussias

Senior Director, Data Strategy & Architecture

Stryker

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Current EpisodeEP66: How to Connect Data Strategy to Business Value
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Episode Overview

Modern data leaders know creating a data-informed culture requires cross-functional partnership and collaboration across the entire business. IT by themselves can’t do it. Nor can individual business departments. Both the IT and business strategy must be in lock step to achieve results.  On this episode of The Data Chief, Dora Boussias, Senior Director of Data Strategy and Architecture at Stryker, discusses the role of modern data executives, three keys to creating a data-informed culture, and her approach to breaking down silos based on her own 28 years of experience building effective data strategies across industries.

Key Moments: 

  • How Dora’s diverse experiences have helped her approach to data strategy (6:53)
  • How data leaders should be connecting data strategies to business value (10:37)
  • How technical strategy and data strategy differ (13:57)
  • Dora’s investment in continued learning about business challenges (14:59)
  • Why there are no “dumb questions” when working toward a goal (18:51)
  • Emphasizing change management to create a bigger impact (23:36)
  • The importance of a collaborative culture across all business divisions (28:25)
  • Can data-fluent cultures be driven from a grassroots approach? (30:32)
  • Why data alone is not enough to make good decisions (34:00)
  • The state of female leadership in the data industry (36:55)
  • The lighting round (45:36)

 

Key Quotes

[Your data strategy] has to have a purpose. And that purpose is what is my mission as a company, what are my goals as a company? How do I tangibly relate to that?”

I don't just go and ask, ‘What is your data problem?’ I'm trying to understand the holistic challenge. And I typically ask about challenges, but I also ask about what's working well and reflect on that, connect the dots, try to put the map together across the organization.

I believe in being data-informed, not just data-driven.

Sometimes we take for granted what it means to break the silo. I really want to highlight how important it is to work with peers across the organization, coordinate, and march toward common goals.

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Bio:

Business data and technology leader with deep domain expertise in data, analytics, enterprise architecture, and digital transformation; accustomed to walking the line between Business & IT, comfortable with driving change at global organizations, focused on making meaningful impact to the organization and its ultimate beneficiary, be it patient or customer.

Leading with authenticity, empathy, inclusiveness, and resilience, strives to drive trusted partnerships to define, design, and implement cross-functional solutions that balance strategic direction with pragmatic needs, simplify processes, boost operational efficacy, and bring timely, relevant, high-quality data for the right business decisions.

Currently and throughout most her career in leadership roles of enterprise-wide reach, Dora has had the opportunity to make an impact with her work at global organizations such as Stryker, GE, and Prudential. Her 25+ year career includes exposure to Financial Services, Healthcare/Medical Technology, and Retail.