Intelligent CIO LATAM Issue 57 | Page 38

FEATURE
The true value of assessment lies precisely in connecting these pains and expectations to the level of maturity identified in the best practices, highlighting points in which fragility directly impacts business results.
Consistent diagnosis is essential
In this context a central and often ignored question arises: how could someone with no real experience in assessments craft the right questions and properly interpret the answers? Developing a consistent diagnosis requires repertoire, experience, practice and deep knowledge in identifying contradictions, silences, defensive responses and natural biases in interviews.
Without this baggage work becomes an educated checklist, unable to reveal risks, weaknesses and structural inconsistencies.
At a minimum an assessment needs to deliver three fundamental elements. The first is a clear and unequivocal diagnosis based on evidence and connected to the pains and expectations of the business, with the evaluation of existing or non-existent data management and governance practices in the organisation.
The second is the strategic direction of the Data Management Program explicitly aligned with the company’ s corporate strategy. The third is a structured, prioritised and executable action plan capable of evolving data maturity progressively and sustainably.
There is no AI maturity without data maturity
Here is a point that needs to be faced directly by the C-level body: the assessment is not a technical exercise nor an operational initiative. It is an instrument of corporate governance and support for strategic direction.
It allows executives to clearly understand where the organisation consciously takes risks and where it simply operates in the dark. Without this diagnosis relevant decisions about data, analytics and AI will never be strategic and will continue to be ill-informed bets.
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