MURTZ DAUD Director of Data & Analytics at British Gas Business (BGB)
Curiosity, culture and solving complex problems using data
In conversation with MURTZ
DAUD
Director of Data & Analytics at British Gas Business
(BGB)
People-centric leader. Passionate about evangelising data. Pursuer of positive change through datadriven strategies.
Murtz is on a mission to develop a team and an environment that’s empowered to drive value through data in his role as British Gas Business’ Director of Data & Analytics.
Murtz already has a successful history of delivering innovations and opportunities to drive value with data within organisations and establish best practices for ‘single source of truth’ data.
His many successes so far have included transforming organisations across various industries into being truly value-driven through data, focusing not only on technology but also on enhancing data culture and data fluency across businesses.
Welcome Murtz, it’s a pleasure to have you here today. Firstly, we’re curious to find out more about your data career so far.
It has spanned many sectors and resulted in real-world improvements for patients and customers. Can you tell us what drove you towards this career and the path you’ve taken to get to where you are today?
Of course. I studied for a degree in business information systems, which gave me the option to go into tech or business. I wanted to keep my options open as I was unsure at that stage what I wanted to do. Luckily, one of my placements during my degree was in data, covering for maternity leave, so I was doing a real job. Data wasn’t seen as such an important strategic asset in 2007, but even then, I could see the value it brings.
Following the global market crash in 2008, people really started looking at data. So, I came into the industry at the right time and in a role where I was creating technical data solutions. I have worked in various industries, including healthcare, financial services, and investment.
I also undertook some contracting. This varied from going into organisations and being hands-on to completing organisational redesigns and setting up data departments from scratch.
I had a fortunate opportunity to do an Executive MBA a couple of years ago. I value that experience so much because it not only improved me as a leader, it also helped me understand different environments, industries, sectors and departments.
It taught me about marketing, business finance, operations and strategy in such a way that I can actually now start to think about how we can help in those areas without them coming to us. More recently, I’ve moved into the energy sector for the first time as Director of Data & Analytics at British Gas Business.
It sounds like you relished being hands-on in creating solutions. Do you miss that as a leader?
I really liked the exciting buzz of solving complex problems with technical solutions – loved it, absolutely loved it! But I moved into leadership many years ago and I’ve never looked back. The buzz I used to get from developing solutions myself has been completely replaced by the buzz I get from developing people.
I have a people-first approach –supporting people to grow and self-actualise is an amazing feeling and I’m a huge fan of personal development for my teams. It’s the thing that gets me up in the morning and makes me into who I am.
It’s easy to hear how passionate you are about people. But when it comes to you and your team implementing data-driven solutions, what do you think are the key barriers to organisations? And how have you overcome them?
People think technology is the biggest barrier, but technology is actually a little more predictable. The biggest challenge can be something as trivial as how do you get people to use your data and analytics solution in the first place to actually harness the value it may bring?
I see myself more as a chief adoption officer. I need to evangelise data and showcase its value – and almost ignore the word ‘data’ because nobody cares about data apart from data people! Users and stakeholders want value, and I try to adopt a value-driven approach.
For example, in my role at St Andrew’s Healthcare, my team and I delivered analytical solutions to help clinicians tailor treatments for patients, helping to improve care. Looking after the patients was central. Here at British Gas Business, clearly, we don’t have patients, but we do have customers, and again our aim is make their lives better.
I’m obsessed with customer impact and value generation. Everyone wants to be data-driven, but actually you can be data-driven and that results in zero value. You need to be valuedriven, of which data happens to be one of the assets that you can leverage.
I think expectations can also be a challenge. If you look at the last year or two, everybody wants Gen AI, but you need to ask the question of why you want it, what areas of business will gain the most value from it, and do we have the basics such as Data Governance and Quality right first?
Managing expectations is crucial to make sure we do things for the right reasons, in the right way that’s sustainable. We also need to explain that, for example, after implementing a solution, the day one value might be 10% of day 365 value, so stakeholders are clear on what to expect and when.
How do you go about addressing that resistance that you noted some people have towards change?
In data, we are still seen as disruptors. People sometimes want to go on gut feel based on their experience in that sector or in their role, rather than to be informed by data. I still remember a previous role within the healthcare sector where we’d created some really important solutions for improving patient care. I had a conversation with a doctor about it, but he wasn’t open to it. He’d been doing his job for 20 years, whereas I wasn’t a healthcare professional, so there was an element of ‘Who are you to tell me what to do?’
So back then – and still now – it’s my job to articulate that we are not replacing human judgement. We are augmenting it. We are providing our users with all the information at their fingertips to make that final decision. To help overcome change resistance, I want as many people as possible to move towards becoming supporters and advocates instead of critics or neutrals. I need to strategically leverage the existing advocates and supporters to do that.
I learned this the hard way! I quite often used to go on stage and showcase the product that my team had built – for example, talking to financial experts about a financial model. But as I wasn’t part of their world, they were sometimes apathetic about it. I learned to leverage other influential people who will be listened to and are part of that world to do the talking on my behalf.
You need to build that guiding coalition of influential people. You need a volunteering army from every level of the business, from the shop floor to the boardroom, who can showcase the value of the data strategy that you’re looking to build and who will communicate and drive adoption with you. It’s about having tactical ploys on how you disseminate communication to drive adoption. Creating a culture that embraces change is a challenge that will be familiar to many of our readers, so the point about helping to augment human judgement through data is really pertinent.
You mentioned that tech is simpler than overcoming change resistance, but does it present any challenges?
It isn’t the hardest challenge, but it is still a challenge. The landscape is ever-changing. We’re setting up mechanisms to constantly be ahead of the curve. Even though we may not be able to leverage that tech today, being aware of it and adapting to it will be useful for the future. Otherwise, if you completely ignore that tech, you’re going to be so behind the curve that when you need the new technology, you’re already two years late. That constant learning and improvement culture is extremely important. This can be done through internal training and development and through external networking with like-minded peers in Data and Analytics.
And what about today’s tech? You mentioned Gen AI. Where are you with that?
People are really getting disrupted by Gen AI, including, for the first time, data people themselves. The
disruptors are being disrupted. I think you need to crawl before you can start jumping to the moon and that’s the most important thing at the moment. I referenced earlier that there’s a push for Gen AI, so I’m almost using Gen AI as the lever to focus on the less-desirable basics first, such as data governance and quality and data fluency in the business, before getting to the exciting stuff.
Being in a role that people look to for innovation and creativity, then having to say, “But hold on, we can’t do the innovation and creativity until we fix the foundations of data governance and quality because, otherwise, we’re building on quicksand”, can be quite a challenging dichotomy. Especially as I’m usually innovation-first!
We also need to be very strategic about it. How does it help the business today? And tomorrow? How can we do it in a responsible and ethical way?
You must have seen Jurassic Park? Jeff Goldblum’s character makes a great point that’s so pertinent to us today. He said, “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” Today, there are so many things we could do with Gen AI, but we need to balance that with what’s the right thing to do for our customers, our people and our planet.We need to make sure to do it in the right way, keeping an eye on ethical and moral boundaries, as well as security and confidentiality. You must have an ethics committee that can review every initiative. You need those governance processes in place to balance external regulations against what you really want to do as a business.
You spoke about innovation and creativity there. How have you harnessed creativity and knowledge from across different departments of an organisation to help boost innovation or create better ways of working?
I think people sometimes overlook that data isn’t a technical problem. It’s not ‘digital change’- Data is now in a place where it is ‘business change’. So, with that in mind, you want people with soft skills. Communication is inherent to success, as is stakeholder management, engagement and relationship building. Problemsolving, a growth mindset and curiosity are also important.
I want to build that capability internally. It’s not just about getting certified technical skills. It’s about getting the right people that can give you the right qualities to be successful.
The biggest part of my career is developing people and I’m a firm believer you can find the right people from anywhere. I want to find people hidden within the organisation who have the soft skills and the inherent qualities required in data analytics and grow them into technical marvels. Because, whilst the hard skills required in data and tech can be taught with a comprehensive training plan, the softer skills can be more challenging to develop.
This all helps to build a diverse team that deeply understands business problems and addresses them through innovative and creative solutions.
Can you tell us more about any of your future areas of focus in your current role?
We’re looking at how we can leverage data analytics to optimise our customer experience and customer journeys, optimise energy usage, save costs and be more sustainable going forward for a fairer and greener future with a triple bottom line approach – not just people and profit, but planet as well. Our data strategies need to be in line with that. And we want to drive innovation and let diverse voices be heard. I am a firm believer that innovation doesn’t live in the boardroom. Innovation lives on the shop floor. That’s where the great ideas are.
Cost can be one of the biggest barriers in any organisation, but there’s an Indian concept called jugaad, which is about solving complex problems without the need of an army. How can we do that here?
Because actually innovation isn’t just about shiny, expensive technology. Innovation is about fixing a real-life problem that is causing an individual pain on the shop floor. That for me is innovation – using creativity to fix that problem. At St Andrew’s Healthcare, I protected time for that innovation to make sure people could have that safety to play. I’m already starting to think about how we can do that here at British Gas Business as well. At St Andrew’s Healthcare, I protected time for innovation to ensure people could have that safe space to play. I’m already starting to think about how we can do that here at British Gas Business as well.
“Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”
Jeff Goldblum - Jurassic Park
We need to focus on automating and streamlining processes so we can free up time to do the fun stuff that we really want to do. For example, how do you create more capacity to reduce the burden of BAU and focus on innovation?
It’s not just about bringing in more people; it’s also about looking at trivial things like using time in the most effective way. We then need to be disciplined enough to use that extra time to focus on innovation and not fill it with more BAU work. Because I'm not the person who does innovation. I'm the person who enables innovation, and I think that's the key thing. We in data create products for the business to be innovative – we enable that. Having that very clear guideline is crucial as it empowers people from other departments to be innovative and bring us ideas to innovate around. We would mobilise this to be a culture change. It has to be a cross-functional, organisation-wide
analytics, and Gen AI, you need a firm foundation or the solution will sink at some point and the ramifications could be catastrophic. I also take a culture- and peoplefirst, tech-second approach – because tech is the backend that provides the value. How you use the tech is the real difference-maker.
Of course, you need to understand your value-added initiatives completely. For example, the ratio between revenue generation versus cost optimisation at every level of granularity. Plus, you need to link what you're doing with the organisation’s strategy. Quite often data strategies can be in silos, but it’s important to have a clear link to the organisation’s strategy and communicate what that is.
And lastly but certainly not least, can you share a little more about the traits that shape you as a leader?
With that in mind, can you provide a quick overview of how
data-driven strategies?
All of my strategies start with the basics – the culture, the organisation and whether we’re actually treating data as an asset. By ‘an asset’ I mean are we governing it and are we ensuring its quality? Those are the two key things for me because it’s those foundations that you build from to build innovative solutions through business intelligence, data science, predictive
One of my traits is curiosity. I ask so many questions. If someone says they want a dashboard, I want to know everything from how they’re going to use it to what the success metrics are. I want to put myself in their mindset because then I can help them better.
I think another trait that’s absolutely crucial is adaptability. Especially in the changing landscape of people, culture and technology, you need to be always adaptable and on the front foot. I'm also constantly motivated and I hope that my energy and my passion for the role transfers over to my team. I love working with people and seeing the value at the end of our hard work.
“I see myself more as a Chief Adoption Officer!”
Murtz Daud
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