Session Name: Data-Driven Decision Making and Creativity

In a panel discussion at the STEP 2020, speakers Hans Schreuder, co-founder of Enaible, an AI-powered leadership company, Mark Ralea, CEO of 8fit, one of the leading fitness apps, TJ Lightwala, the Regional Head of Digital solutions at Mindshare, a global, multi-award winning, media agency network and Samer Saad, Agency Partnerships Director at Criteo, a personalized retargeting company that works with internet retailers to serve personalized online display advertisements, discussed how data has played a major role in boosting strategic decisions in large corporates and SMEs. They also discussed how to combine data and creativity as a strategic differentiator, and how brands can leverage and re-calibrate focus to generate more targeted, personalized customer engagement. 

Saad described data as one of the key driving points for their customers, explaining that, “The data that we collect from our landlords or our customers helps them to make the right decisions – for example, we alert customers about their rent, and whether it is above the market price or below the market price. We are able to tell landlords about the behaviors of their tenants – are they leaving soon? Or are they staying for a longer term.” Adding to this, Saad said, “Data is the new oil. Just like oil, data is crude, and you need to refine it to get insights out of it – this is where I believe that you can, or should, add a human touch to it, and be able to creatively execute whatever your objective is.” 

“Data is the new oil. Just like oil, data is crude, and you need to refine it to get insights out of it – this is where I believe that you can, or should, add a human touch to it, and be able to creatively execute whatever your objective is.” 

Samer Saad, Agency Partnerships Director, Criteo,

The speakers collectively agreed that in business, there’s always an element of risk, but data-driven decisions make companies less vulnerable to “risky” decisions going wrong. Ralea added that, “doing more of what worked and less of what may or may not work – all based on the data you have collected, allows for smarter business decisions.”