Episode 74: The Next Generation of Business Intelligence with Cindi Howson

Datacast

Timestamps

• (02:03) Cindi briefly shared her early interest in writing and her decision to major in English at the University of Maryland in the mid-80s.
• (05:22) Cindi talked about her move to Zurich for a Business Systems Specialist role at Dow Chemical.
• (07:35) Cindi recalled the state of Business Intelligence tools and their adoption level in the enterprises during the mid-90s.
• (10:53) Cindi went over her decision to pursue an MBA from the Jones Business School at Rice University, in which her MBA Thesis was about how the Internet would reshape the first-generation BI tools.
• (16:30) Cindi discussed how she balanced academic study and parenthood during her MBA.
• (20:57) Cindi talked about her proudest accomplishments as a manager at Deloitte — building BI and analytics practice in Houston.
• (22:48) Cindi went over her time running her independent analyst firm BI Scorecard, which advised clients on BI and analytics tool selections via rigorous evaluation criteria.
• (26:14) Cindi brought up her time teaching classes at The Data Warehousing Institute, which educates business leaders on the proper deployment of data warehousing strategies and technologies.
• (27:49) Cindi mentioned her move to become the Vice President in data and analytics at Gartner.
• (30:33) Cindi walked through the end-to-end process of creating Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Analytics and BI Platforms and Critical Capabilities.
• (33:47) Cindi explained the culture of “Selfless Excellence” at ThoughtSpot — where she currently serves as a Chief Strategy Officer.
• (36:11) Cindi explained the concept of “What’s In It For Me” (WIIFM) that helps bring a data-driven culture to organizations.
• (39:34) Cindi gave a tour of ThoughtSpot’s core capabilities, ranging from SearchIQ and SpotIQ to ThoughtSpot One and ThoughtSpot Embrace.
• (43:04) Cindi broke down her responsibilities as a Chief Data Strategy Officer working with internal and external stakeholders.
• (44:40) Cindi emphasized the role of partnerships between startup vendors to empower the future of BI analytics (Read her article A New Era in Analytics and BI”).
• (49:58) Cindi recapped takeaways from ThoughtSpot’s ebook that presents 6 Top Trends and Predictions for Data, Analytics, and AI in 2021.
• (53:07) Cindi gave advice to companies that want to bring consumerization to enterprise analytics.
• (56:35) Cindi gave her two cents on the movement of Data For Good in the progress of analytics and AI in the near future.
• (58:58) Cindi recapped insights that she has observed from hosting The Data Chief Podcast (which features interviews with some of the most successful data leaders).
• (01:03:29) Cindi gave advice to female data practitioners in the early phase of their careers (Read her article on the challenges that keep women out of tech).
• (01:05:30) Closing segment.

Cindi’s Contact

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• ThoughtSpot
• The Data Chief Podcast

Mentioned Content

Blog Posts

• “Why I Joined ThoughtSpot” (April 2019)
• “A New Era in Analytics and BI” (August 2019)
• “Perfect Storm or Transformative Triumvirate: Data for Good, Data for Evil, and AI Ethics” (Nov 2019)
• “We Can Put a Man on the Moon, But We Can’t Keep Women in Tech” (Sep 2019)
• 6 Top Trends and Predictions for Data, Analytics, and AI in 2021 (2021 E-Book)

Published Books

• “Successful Business Intelligence” (Nov 2013)
• “SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0” (Nov 2012)

Data for Good Resources

• Datakind
• Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth
• Carnegie Mellon’s Data Science for Social Good
• Viz for Social Good

Women in Data Resources

• Women in Data
• Women in Big Data
• Women in Analytics

People

• Joy Buolamwini (Computer Scientist and Digital Activist at MIT Media Lab, Founder of the Algorithmic Justice League)
• Cathy O’Neil (Author of “Weapons of Math Destruction”)
• Kate Strachnyi (Founder of DATAcated)
• Ralph Kimball (Original Architect of Data Warehousing)
• Ajeet Singh and Amit Prakash (Co-Founders of ThoughtSpot)

Recommended Books

• “Moneyball” (by Michael Lewis)
• “Freakonomics” (by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner)

Notes

My conversation with Cindi was recorded back in April 2021. Since the podcast was recorded, a lot has happened at ThoughtSpot:

• They unveiled their new vision for the Modern Analytics Cloud — a simple, actionable, and open approach to cloud analytics that’s redefining how companies deliver value from across the entire modern data stack.
• They acquired Diyotta & Seekwell. With Diyotta, they’re expanding the number of integrations with other cloud companies, while Seekwell gives customers the ability to operationalize insights by connecting analytics to other systems to trigger action.
• ThoughtSpot Everywhere launched as the first development platform to build interactive data apps with search and AI-driven analytics.
• Cloud growth. They announced major growth in their SaaS and cloud offerings, including their first 100 SaaS customers, 250% ARR growth from cloud products, and planned headcount growth.

About the show

Datacast features long-form, in-depth conversations with practitioners and researchers in the data community to walk through their professional journeys and unpack the lessons learned along the way. I invite guests coming from a wide range of career paths — from scientists and analysts to founders and investors — to analyze the case for using data in the real world and extract their mental models (“the WHY and the HOW”) behind their pursuits. Hopefully, these conversations can serve as valuable tools for early-stage data professionals as they navigate their own careers in the exciting data universe.

Datacast is produced and edited by James Le. Get in touch with feedback or guest suggestions by emailing [e-mail].

Subscribe by searching for Datacast wherever you get podcasts or click one of the links below:

• Listen on Spotify
• Listen on Apple Podcasts
• Listen on Google Podcasts

If you’re new, see the podcast homepage for the most recent episodes to listen to, or browse the full guest list.

About the show

Datacast features long-form, in-depth conversations with practitioners and researchers in the data community to walk through their professional journeys and unpack the lessons learned along the way. I invite guests coming from a wide range of career paths — from scientists and analysts to founders and investors — to analyze the case for using data in the real world and extract their mental models (“the WHY and the HOW”) behind their pursuits. Hopefully, these conversations can serve as valuable tools for early-stage data professionals as they navigate their own careers in the exciting data universe.

Datacast is produced and edited by James Le. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [e-mail].

Subscribe by searching for Datacast wherever you get podcasts, or click one of the links below:

• Listen on Spotify
• Listen on Apple Podcasts
• Listen on Google Podcasts

If you’re new, see the podcast homepage for the most recent episodes to listen to, or browse the full guest list.