Are Companies Wasting Money on Data & AI?

In this episode of Data Analytics Chat, we welcome Lior Barak, Author & Founder of Impact Operations. After 15+ years in data organisations, Lior now helps data teams and their leadership treat data and AI as a capital allocation decision, so teams can show what their work returns, not just what it costs.

Lior is the author of What Data Really Costs, a business fable about the hidden cost of data: the "zombie taxes" and "FTE debt" that organisations pay every year when business teams spend their time checking, rebuilding and second-guessing data. Listeners can read the first two chapters of the book here: https://liorbarak.com/what-data-really-costs

We discuss how leaders should decide what is worth funding, when to stop a project, how to escape the POC trap, and how technical teams can stay focused on work that creates real business value.

00:00 Cold Open
01:24 Introduction to Data Analytics Chat
02:15 Introducing Lior Barak and His Background
03:29 Should Technical Teams See the Commercial Value and Cost of Their Work?
09:19 Where the Most Money and Time Is Wasted Across Data & AI
12:15 Why Companies Invest in Projects That Don't Create Business Impact
15:51 Questions Leadership Should Ask Before Funding a Data or AI Initiative
18:50 Building the Business Case Before the Team Starts Building
24:00 Communicating Value Effectively to Senior Stakeholders
27:29 What Are We Actually Getting Back for All This Data & AI Spend?
32:09 Deciding Which Projects to Continue, Deprioritise or Stop
34:19 The POC Trap: What Makes a Project Production-Worthy?
38:29 How Technical Teams Can Work on Problems That Matter, Not Just Tickets
39:52 What a High-Performing Data & AI Team Looks Like
45:22 What Leaders Should Audit First on Their Roadmap

Connect with our guests:
Lior Barak, Author & Founder, Impact Operations: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liorbarak/

Thank you for listening!