the culture surrounding it Equally, organisations with relatively modest technology often outperform because they have created an environment where people actively seek evidence before mak- ing decisions, openly share information, challenge assumptions and continually improve how they use data. DBS Bank offers a useful example. McKinsey describes how DBS linked its digital transformation directly to business out- comes, while also emphasising that mindsets and culture were just as important as technology. The results were measurable: digital customers generated around twice the income per customer compared with traditional customers, and the digital segment had a cost-to-income ratio of about 34 per cent, compared with 54 per cent for the traditional segment. That is what happens when transformation is not just installed, but absorbed into how people think, work and make decisions.
Persistent problems Technology is not the answer. This may sound like an unusual argument coming from someone who has spent a career working with data and technology. I love technology. I am an enthusiastic early adopter. In fact, never leave me alone in a room with a but- ton labelled ‘Do Not Press’. Curiosity usually wins. Every year our tools become faster, smarter and more capable.
Artificial intelligence is accelerating possibilities that felt impos- sible only a few years ago. Yet despite extraordinary advances in technology, many organisations still struggle with the same problems they faced a decade ago: poor data quality, limited trust, departmental silos, low adoption and resistance to change. If technology alone solved these problems, they would already have disappeared. Instead, organisations often buy another platform in the hope that this time things will be different. But technology rarely fixes cultural problems. It often exposes them. If teams do not collaborate before implementing a data platform, they usually will not collaborate afterwards. If leaders do not make evidence-based decisions today, dashboards will not suddenly change their behaviour tomorrow. If people do not trust data, giving them more data simply creates more scepticism. Technol- ogy rarely fixes cultural problems. More often, it simply exposes them. The problem is rarely the software. It is the environment into which that software is introduced.
People are the answer Toyota’s Andon Cord is a useful reminder of this principle. The cord itself is simple technology: a way for a worker to signal a problem on the production line. But the value was never in the cord alone. It came from the culture behind it: trusting the person closest to the work, making problems visible early and solving root causes rather than passing defects downstream. The financial logic is powerful too. Defects become more expensive the further they travel through a process, creating rework, scrap, warranty claims and reputational damage. In other words, the technology helped expose the problem, but people with the right mindset solved it.
Technology is not the answer. People are. Everyone has a role to play in data
One of the most damaging myths in business is that data belongs to the data team. It doesn’t. It belongs to:
Every person who enters customer information. Every manager who approves a report. Every frontline employee who updates a record. Every executive who makes a strategic decision. Every member of an organisation contributes to its data. Everyone influences its quality. Everyone shapes its value. And everyone should feel ownership.
The most successful organisations don’t create a culture where everyone becomes a data scientist. They create a culture where
22 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL
everyone becomes data conscious. They ask better questions. They understand the importance of accuracy. They appreciate context. They challenge assumptions.
They recognise that every piece of information they create becomes part of someone else’s decision. Everyone has a role to play in data. That responsibility cannot be delegated.
Data is invaluable when harnessed correctly Data has often been described as the new oil. Personally, I’ve never liked the analogy. Oil has value simply because it exists. Data doesn’t.
Poor quality data creates poor decisions. Unused data creates no value whatsoever. Misunderstood data can be actively harm- ful. Data only becomes valuable when organisations know how to harness it. When people trust it. When it is accessible. When governance protects it without hiding it. When curiosity replaces assumption. When collaboration replaces ownership battles. When leaders consistently demonstrate that evidence matters.
The emphasis is on harnessed. Not collected. Not stored. Not visualised. Harnessed. Cultural Change Is Hard. If building a data culture were easy, every organisation would already have one. The reality is far mess- ier. Culture is invisible until you try to change it. It lives in habits, language, meetings, incentives, stories, what gets rewarded, what gets ignored and what leaders do rather than what they say. That is why cultural transformation takes significantly longer than technical implementation. You cannot install trust. You can- not automate curiosity. You cannot purchase accountability. You certainly cannot download collaboration. These are behaviours that develop gradually through repeated reinforcement. This is not just a philosophical point. Gartner predicts that by 2027, 80 per cent of data and analytics governance initiatives will fail because they are not anchored to a real or clearly man- ufactured business crisis. In other words, data programmes fail when they are treated as technical exercises rather than busi- ness-critical cultural change.
August-September 2026
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