The latest session of the IIF’s DataTalk forum, our interactive discussion forum with knowledge partner the Oliver Wyman Forum, focused on data literacy. This note provides a brief summary of the key themes that emerged, noting that the conversation was conducted under the Chatham House rule, and comments are unattributed.

With information growing exponentially and driving ever more business decisions, the need to “speak data” coherently across organizations is greater than ever. That begins with identifying what concrete issues need to be addressed with a data literacy program, and defining common standards and language while realizing everyone doesn’t need the same level of skills. Firms need to be clear about what they aim to achieve by raising the workforce’s data literacy, measure their progress, and keep everyone focused on using data to serve client needs. Success can unlock radical collaboration involving everyone from the IT specialists to customer-facing staff.

The DataTalk series continues in November when we will discuss Cloud Computing.

For more information on this forum, please contact [email protected].