Great business strategies are not plucked from thin air — they are created. To create something new and great requires experimentation. In this talk we will describe how data scientists can work with enterprise thought leaders to construct experiments that lead to new business innovations. The talk will provide guidance on how to collect and analyze information to enable calculation of business impact related to driving change in business practices. We will give examples from industry leaders on how data-driven experimentation leads to new profits and insights. Learn how to innovate using experimentation to drive business decisions; learn about champion-challenger methodologies to create continuous improvement in business performance; and learn the skill sets required of a “data scientist” capable of designing and executing the experiments.
Constructing Experiments to Inform Business Innovation
Stephen Brobst is the chief technology officer of Teradata Corporation, where he helps companies use business intelligence technology in competitive business environments. Regarded as a leading expert in data warehousing, he successfully launched three start-up companies related to high-end database management products and services in the data warehousing and e-business marketplaces: Tanning Technology Corporation (IPO on NASDAQ), NexTek Solutions (acquired by IBM) and Strategic Technologies & Systems (acquired by NCR). Brobst has also taught graduate courses at Boston University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and continues as a frequent guest lecturer at MIT and the Kellogg Graduate School of Management.
Brobst has served as an advisor to the National Academy of Sciences in the area of IT workforce development and also served in Barack Obama’s first term as a member of the President’s Innovation and Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC), a working group of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). He co-authored Building a Data Warehouse for Decision Support (Prentice Hall) and is working on a book on active data warehousing for the real-time enterprise.