With data being valued so highly in modern business, ripe with looming issues such as data governance and data democratization dominating so many C-suite conversations, it is a surprise that many companies are searching for the perfect data scientist? Despite the best intentions, that may not be the smartest or most efficient way to go about things. Instead of thinking about data science as something done by one lone, data scientist unicorn, it is better to think of data science as a team sport, according to one data science executive.

“It’s much better to take a cross-functional team, with a complementary kind of skill set, and get them working together. How do you fit different pieces of the puzzle together will determine the success of the program,” said Vishal Morde (pictured), vice president of data science and advanced analytics at Barclays PLC.

Barclays has lived out this philosophy by creating a data science lab that includes not just data scientists, but also data engineers and software developers.

Morde spoke with Jeff Frick (@JeffFrick), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the Corinium Chief Analytics Officer event in San Francisco. They discussed data governance, the role of data science, and data democratization.

Organizing a mountain of data

Barclays’ data strategy wasn’t always this streamlined. It was among many companies that found themselves valuing data highly but not knowing what to do with it. As a financial institution, it had amassed a great amount of data, from demographics to spending and behavioral habits for each customer, without leveraging it. Challenges ranged from the different sources of data to establishing who owned the data in the first place.

“Step one was developing a comprehensive data strategy,” Morde said. “We built a data science lab where we can quickly do a lot of rapid prototyping, look at any idea in machine learning data science, incubate it, validate it, and, finally, it was ready for production.”

By establishing a data science lab and teaching employees the importance of data, Barclays was able to turn a mountain of unleveraged data into organized, monetized assets that both improved the organization’s profitability and the experience of customers, Morde concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Corinium Chief Analytics Officer event.

Photo: SiliconANGLE