The Data Chief | Episode 68

Delek US and Proving Value as the CDO

Ido Biger

EVP, CTO & Chief Data Officer

Delek US

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Current EpisodeEP68: Delek US and Proving Value as the CDO
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Episode Overview

The role of the CDO is changing, and with these changes come new opportunities to prove business value. On this episode of The Data Chief, Ido Biger, EVP of Data and Technology for Delek US, explains how he’s breaking down data silos and turning insights to action. He also takes listeners through several analytics use cases including creating operational efficiencies for frontline workers and reducing customer churn.

Key Moments: 

  • Ido’s role at Delek and confronting his biggest challenge (04:23)
  • How Ido breaks down data silos (11:53)
  • Using data-driven insights to increase operational efficiency - Telco case study (15:15)
  • Using data-driven insights to reduce customer churn - Airline case study (20:01)
  • Why COVID was a huge opportunity for the airline industry (26:20)
  • Turning insights to action - Oil and gas case study (29:08)
  • The importance of finding a sponsor for your data project (32:19)
  • How to prove value as a CDO (33:04)
  • Ido’s work as a professor (35:12)

 

Key Quotes

How are we going to measure ourselves in terms of the value that the CDO adds to the organization? And we all saw that data was just kind of the projector. It allows you to see the problems and maybe it allows you to understand the whys behind the problems, but it cannot change the process. It will not change something unless it will be changed on those systems unless it will be changed on the business side.

I think it's a huge advantage not just to report to the CEO, but also having the second hat as the Chief Technology Officer. Right. So all of the technologies of the company are under my supervision now and that allows me once again to see the complete cycle.

I think by moving from someone who just led BI and analytics to someone who's in charge utilization of the data of the company and then implementing it back to the operational system, those were kind of the three generations as I see it in this role.

The first thing you want to do in a data project is to find a very good sponsor. Quick wins and quick successes are a necessity for a good start and later on a good journey. Otherwise, you will start maybe with the big things, but nothing will happen.

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Bio:

Ido Biger has served as Executive Vice President since July of 2022. Prior to joining Delek, Ido led the IT division of El Al Airlines, an Israeli airline, alongside the cyber security team, and the data and analytics field (over 200 people), as well as served as the Chairman of the Board for Cockpit Innovation. Ido held two successful Chief Data Officer roles at Telco and Aviation. He led big data teams, BI departments, advanced analytics units (data science), and data literacy programs. Ido was the international speaker and adjunct lecturer at Tel-Aviv University and the Technion for Big Data Technologies, Data Science, and Data Visualization. Ido also represented the state of Israel at MIT’s CDOIQ forum.