logo
episode-header-image
Dec 2021
42m 57s

ServiceNow’s Vijay Kotu on the Power of ...

ThoughtSpot
About this episode

Every day we make decisions. Some are as simple as deciding when to leave for work in order to beat traffic or what to eat for breakfast. Others bear much greater importance, such as what new products to launch or what new markets to tackle. Analytics plays an important role in helping your business make these decisions in a smarter, more data-driven way.

“The purpose of analytics is to help us make decisions, is to create decision-making capabilities across the company. The next step was to find out what those decisions are that we would need to make? When I say decisions, these are not like once in a quarter, boardroom decisions. I'm talking about everyday decisions that many of our colleagues make every single day.”

Vijay Kotu is the SVP of Data and Analytics for ServiceNow, a company that is helping enterprises manage digital workflows. In this episode of the Data Chief, Vijay discusses how he is building a high-growth “mathematical enterprise” where frontline workers are empowered to make smarter business decisions with data and AI. He also speaks about the impact of ecosystems, the need for businesses to have a holistic view of their data in order to create positive outcomes, and why being intentional about analytics use cases is absolutely essential. 

Key Takeaways:

  • Don’t underestimate the impact of micro-decisions: We all want to be more data-driven, but don’t fall into the trap of thinking that data and analytics can only be applied to once-a-quarter, boardroom-level decisions. Enabling frontline employees to be more data-driven in their everyday work is a hugely powerful way to make a positive impact across your entire business.
  • Evaluate how data can improve workflows: The holy grail of analytics is converting insights to action. One of the most effective ways to do this is by automating workflows whenever and wherever possible. With automation, you help everyone in the business be more efficient without adding any extra work or manual decision-making.
  • Data becomes exponentially more powerful when it’s connected: Having all of your proprietary data in one place is a great way to start your data journey but it becomes exponentially more valuable when you connect it to outside data sources. Bringing together multiple sources of data gives you even richer insights about your customers, employees, and products.
  • Data serves the business: At the end of the day, your data goals should align with that of businesses. Data and analytics professionals must remember that data is there to serve sales, marketing, product, IT, etc. into making better decisions for the business. They are the ones running the functions and the data and analytics teams are the backbone of that. Therefore, data teams should be designing products with that in mind.

Key Quotes

“The purpose of analytics is to help us make decisions, is to create decision-making capabilities across the company. The next step was to find out what those decisions are that we would need to make? When I say decisions, these are not like once in a quarter, boardroom decisions. I'm talking about everyday decisions that many of our colleagues make every single day.”

“Data just in one place, it's less valuable. But when you connect it with other data points that you have, it becomes even more valuable.”

“What are you going to do with those insights? That would be the actions. If these insights are helping you make a decision, how do we actually put that decision in action is closing the loop. That has been the Holy Grail of analytics. Rather than stopping at insights, you're closing the loop on helping people do that action here.”

“The things that matter the most for our customers right now is a prioritization decision, and doing really well in those areas will help us reach further in our goal.”

Bio:

Vijay Kotu is Senior Vice President of Analytics at ServiceNow. He leads the implementation of large-scale data platforms and services to support the company's enterprise business. He has led analytics organizations for over a decade with focus on data strategy, business intelligence, machine learning, experimentation, engineering, enterprise adoption, and building analytics talent. Prior to joining ServiceNow, he was Vice President of Analytics at Yahoo. He worked at Life Technologies and Adteractive where he led marketing analytics, created algorithms to optimize online purchasing behavior, and developed data platforms to manage marketing campaigns. He is a member of the Association of Computing Machinery and a member of the Advisory Board at RapidMiner.

To hear more about ServiceNow, check out their podcast.

--

The Data Chief is presented by our friends at ThoughtSpot. Searching through your company’s data for insights doesn’t have to be complicated. With ThoughtSpot, anyone in your organization can easily answer their own data questions, find the facts, and make better, faster decisions. Learn more at thoughtspot.com

Up next
Yesterday
3 Must-Read Data and AI Books for 2025 with Geoff Woods, Wendy Batchelder, and Malcolm Hawker
Welcome to a special author's episode of The Data Chief, where we delve into the minds of three influential authors who are shaping the conversation around data and AI. First, Geoff Woods, author of The AI-Driven Leader, shares his philosophy of prioritizing strategy over technol ... Show More
1h 21m
Sep 24
Why CDO of WEX Puts People Before Technology in the Age of AI
Join us for a compelling conversation on leading through change with Karen Stroup, Chief Digital Officer at WEX. In this episode of The Data Chief, Karen shares her insights on navigating the complexities of AI adoption. She discusses why focusing on the customer problem is more ... Show More
43m 21s
Sep 10
Unlocking the Autonomous Enterprise, with ThoughtSpot CEO
The next generation of analytics is here. In this episode of The Data Chief, ThoughtSpot CEO Ketan Karkhanis explains why AI is the new BI, and the future of analytics is autonomous. Karkhanis shares his vision for the autonomous enterprise, where AI agents act on insights and au ... Show More
45m 41s
Recommended Episodes
Nov 2023
How to Make Good Data Driven Business Decisions
Data-Driven vs. Emotion-Driven Business Decisions: Striking the Balance Empower Your Business: Leveraging Data for Informed Decision-Making Are your business choices guided by intuition or data-backed insights? Are you assisting your clients in making choices driven by emotions o ... Show More
50m 52s
May 2024
#208 Monetizing Data & AI with Vin Vashishta, Founder & AI Advisor at V Squared, & Tiffany Perkins-Munn, MD & Head of Data & Analytics at JPMC
Everything in the world has a price, including improving and scaling your data and AI functions. That means that at some point someone will question the ROI of your projects, and often, these projects will be looked at under the lens of monetization. But how do you ensure that wh ... Show More
1h 1m
May 2022
How to Link Data to Business Outcomes
Every business likes to claim that it is “data-driven” or at least “data-informed,” but too often, that’s not the way things actually work. Data is relegated to an IT function, siloed and, in some cases, boils down to simply producing more reports and dashboards. There is, howeve ... Show More
17m 32s
Aug 2023
2476: ThoughtSpot - How AI Analytics is Redefining Business Intelligence
In the rapidly evolving world of data analytics, staying ahead of the curve is essential. Today on Tech Talks Daily, I'm thrilled to have Sumeet Arora from ThoughtSpot to walk us through their game-changing announcements. ThoughtSpot is already renowned for its advanced analytics ... Show More
33m 55s
Mar 2024
How Data and Analytics Can Bring AI and Humans Together
As organizations implement AI in decision making and how work gets done, trustworthy data is essential to adding value every step of the way. Inadequate data governance or unclear AI ambitions leaves enterprises at risk of falling behind. In this keynote address from Gartner Data ... Show More
26m 4s
Jul 2020
1281: Driving Growth Through Enterprise A.I. Technology
Gary Saarenvirta, founder/CEO of Daisy Intelligence, is recognized as one of North America’s preeminent authorities on artificial intelligence. Gary is a passionate evangelist for the application of A.I. and reinforcement learning in strategic merchandising decisions. He’s not af ... Show More
24m 8s
Mar 2022
Pro Tips for Data-Driven Decision Making
Project leaders make decisions on a nearly non-stop basis. But they also have access to a wealth of information that can help them make the right call. We discuss this with: Reuben Oshomah, PMP, regional director, West Africa, Avanti Communications, Lagos: He talks through what k ... Show More
12m 8s
Sep 2023
2503: LogicMonitor - Data Observability with Taggart Matthiesen
Today, I dive into the complex and often nebulous world of data observability with a leading expert in the field, Taggart Matthiesen, the Chief Product Officer at LogicMonitor. With an impressive career trajectory that includes pivotal roles at Lyft, Twitter, and Salesforce, Tagg ... Show More
22m 7s
Sep 2021
From Different Leadership Vantage Points: Data Drives Value but is Driven by Values
One way to think about data is that it is like rain, and it is pouring outside. Imagine c-suite executives running around in a parking lot with huge buckets trying to capture as much as they can. Afterward, they return to the office, analyze the data, and then decide what to do b ... Show More
51m 50s