Organizing to Make Decisions With Big Data

The era of “Big Data” comes with big promises. The availability of massive amounts of data, along with the power to organize and process it, has strengthened our ability to bring evidence to bear on our decisions. I propose a model for organizing effectively around Big Data called an “Insights Supply Chain.” Embedded within a framework of experimentation and empowering data tools, an Insights Supply Chain transforms Big Data into actionable decisions. I provide some examples of how Oath uses Big Data to create engaging products and user experiences. I conclude with some reminders of the limits of our knowledge that have yet to change and challenge practitioners to respect the wide-reaching impacts they can have on individuals and society as a whole.

Dr. Ahanotu is an experienced decision and insights practitioner with a passion for building, managing, and motivating data-driven teams. In 2010 Duru Ahanotu, Ph.D. joined Yahoo, Inc. where he is now Director of Data Science and Engineering, Growth Marketing Sciences (in 2017 Yahoo became a part of Oath, a Verizon company). Dr. Ahanotu leads a team of Data Scientists and Data Engineers who support the data and advanced analytics needs of Marketing through predictive analytics, Hadoop technologies, and data analytics and visualizations. Dr. Ahanotu was previously a Technical Sales Consultant with Microsoft Advertising where he provided product knowledge, functional expertise, and technical support to Microsoft Advertising account executives who sold a suite of digital media monetization software. This suite included products developed by his former employer Rapt, Inc. With Rapt, Dr. Ahanotu last served as an Engagement Manager for a software implementation for a $100 million on-line publisher with a rapidly growing business. As a Solutions Architect, he served as the lead consultant on client projects and provided technical guidance to Solutions Consultants on other projects. Dr. Ahanotu also contributed several new pricing methodologies and conceptual frameworks for training clients on these analytics. He contributed to a related Rapt patent ("Method and System for Producing Optimized Prices for Products for Sale"). While completing his Ph.D., Dr. Ahanotu worked as a Business Solutions Project Manager for an expert systems software company. His work focused on building and implementing expert systems for diagnosing issues with robots in manufacturing processes.