#121 The Strategic Importance of Data Warehousing and Analytical Software with Craig Rowlands
Craig Rowlands is the Senior Executive Information Management at Medibank. Craig’s role is to provide thought leadership, aligned with expertise in delivering pragmatic business focus information management solutions whilst leading improvements in the data landscape. Whilst at Medibank, Craig has transitioned Medibank from a legacy data management team to a cloud first data capability based on a DevOps methodology to provide Medibank with the right technology, process and people to achieve its long term aspirational objectives.
He has an extensive background in data, commencing in the UK until he moved to Australia in 2011. Whilst in the UK Craig worked for blue chip banking and finance industry leaders such as Barclays, First Direct, GE and Hbos. His first role in Australia was with ANZ as Head of Decision Systems. Craig joined Medibank from Latitude Financial Services (formally GE) where as Head of Data Management he led a large team responsible for data strategy & design, data governance and business intelligence reporting.
In this episode, Craig reveals the fundamental mistakes he made when moving into management. Every leader will make at least one error in recruitment. For example, Craig hired someone relatively new into his career. Craig's new hire fell asleep in the middle of a conversation during a town hall meeting. He had a young family, was studying, and he was also starting another business. Craig realized that his commitment level was not there. Ultimately, they had to performance management him out. Plus, Felipe tells the story of a recruitment mistake that he made. Felipe ended up hiring someone that couldn't code during the day, but would come back the next day with the code finished. Apparently, his brother was doing all of the coding work for him during the night. Obviously, they had to let him go, but six months later, his brother applied for the same job!
Then, Craig reveals the inspiration behind his breadth of data work. Craig has always been fascinated by numbers, logic, and data. Also, Craig has a crazy memory – he can remember all of his passwords and likes to memorize numbers as a game. Data gives brilliant decisions and brilliant outcomes if you use it correctly. There is so much variety in data today. To become a good leader, you need to know a little bit about every area. Otherwise, you won't stand in front of your team with any credibility. In addition, you won't understand what your customers are needing and wanting. A leader needs to understand what their organization is trying to do and what they are trying to achieve. Craig says to do something that you enjoy, and you'll get excellent outcomes because you're passionate about it.
Plus, Craig explains how their business is customer-focused. No one wants to bombard their customer with useless junk. However, if you have data and you focus on the individual, you can make a massive difference. Later, Craig describes his time at Medibank. When he arrived, there were three data warehouses. The business was not very happy with the information management team. They thought the group was too slow and too expensive. Craig says he got the job at Medibank because the data team needed a lot of love and attention. After asking stakeholders about the issues, there were a lot of skeptics. However, Craig's data team has been able to reduce risk and create personalized outcomes for individuals. Stay tuned as Craig describes the importance of big wins on his journey.
Enjoy the show!
We speak about:
[02:45] How is lockdown treating you right now?
[04:30] How did you get started in data?
[08:10] What decisions led you down your path?
[10:30] What surprised you when you moved into management?
[17:20] How and when did you end up in Australia?
[22:30] How did you end up doing a breadth of data work?
[28:30] How is your business customer-focused?
[39:40] What were the elements of your presentations?
[43:15] What have you done in your time at Medibank?
[53:00] How important were you first few wins in setting up the rest of your journey?
Resources:
Craig’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-rowlands-5381a415/
Medibank on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/medibank/
Quotes:
"You reach a crossroad in your career as an analysts where you either stay true to yourself and be a technician or you move into a leadership position role where you bring others along the journey."
"There is so much variety in data today. From the data science world to the reporting world to the information management world and all the roles in there. To become a good leader, my view was I needed to know at least a little bit about each area."
"[Helping the customer] is the outcome and the power that data can provide."
"So, my philosophy has always been I give them 2 or 3 small wins backed up by 1 big one. We keep the momentum going because that way we can keep the seed funding going."
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