When data plays a vital role in the enterprise, effectively using analytics to drive business value is crucial. Today, we’re joined by Steve Fiore, Senior Director of Customer Experience at Teradata, who will share insights into how analytics and AI are shaping enterprise strategies and personal productivity.
Resources
Teradata website: https://www.teradata.com
Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstrom
Don’t miss the Mid-Atlantic MarCom Summit, the region’s largest marketing communications conference. Register with the code “Agile” and get 15% off.
Don’t miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://www.theagilebrand.show
Check out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com
The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://www.teksystems.com/versionnextnow
The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company
Transcript
Note: This was AI-generated and only lightly edited.
Greg Kihlstrom:
When data plays a vital role in the enterprise, effectively using analytics to drive business value is crucial. Today, we’re joined by Steve Fiore, Senior Director of Customer Experience at Teradata, who will share insights into how analytics and AI are shaping enterprise strategies and personal productivity. Steve, welcome to the show. Thank you, Greg. It’s great to be here. Yeah. Before we dive into things, why don’t you give a little background on your role and, you know, just how it sets you up to talk about analytics and enhancing the customer experience.
Steve Fiore: Sure, Greg. I’ve been with Teradata now for 20 years over two different stints. I rejoined about 16 years ago, mainly in an account executive role. So I managed a few accounts for Teradata. And then over the last five years or so in a sales leadership role in a variety of different roles that Teradata had. And then over the last year, I joined the customer experience organization. First as a chief of staff and then over the last six months managing a team of both customer success and customer support functions within our organization so for customer success we focus on maximizing the value of the customers of the customers investment. as well as monitor their health, promote education, and work to increase feature usage and adoption. For the customer support team, it’s the primary interface for the customer to focus on system uptime. They’re also the customer advocate into our global support organization when the system has a technical problem. Regarding how we use analytics to enhance the customer experience, we collect telemetry data, which is basically system query and function data from the customers. We leverage this data and the analytics behind it to help our customers understand how their system’s being used, what features are being leveraged, what features could they take advantage of, how to maximize the system uptime, all to increase the value back to the customer.
Greg Kihlstrom: Great, great. So yeah, let’s dive in here then. And we’re going to start by talk about what you just touched on, which, you know, analytics and enterprise value delivery. And I want to talk first about, can you elaborate a little bit on Teradata’s view and outlook on, you know, we understand that it’s important to collect data and analytics, but how does using analytics to, you know, how does using analytics relate to delivering value in the enterprise?
Steve Fiore: We believe that customers to successfully leverage analytics within their organizations and drive value to their own customers, they need to have trust in their data. At Teradata, we’re the stewards of the most curated data sets at some of the largest and most admired organizations in the world. For this means our customers have data that they can trust when they perform the analytics and perform AI. For example, one of our customers here in the US, the New York Giants, which is an American football team. I know you have an international audience. It has one of the biggest and dedicated fan bases in the country. They gain insights using the Teradata analytic platform to engage fans. A few of the successes that they had, they have identified which fans are most likely to purchase tickets and when. And you can imagine how challenging this is. They have this expansive fan base, primarily in the New York tri-state area. but they only have a fixed amount of seats and demand fluctuates based on how well the team is doing in that year. So being able to understand those insights is crucial. Another thing as they were going through this analysis that they learned was an individual who goes to a home game, the home opener in September, October timeframe, they’re six times likely to skip the next game. That means for the marketing organization, as they go to engage with their fans and customers, changes the way they interact, how they market to them. It’s a pretty amazing set of analytics that they do.
Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah. So, you know, as a customer then of Teradata, you know, how would you ensure that, you know, using analytics and these approaches and these strategies not only support, but even drive business objectives.
Steve Fiore: Let me the best way I can do this is let me share another customer example with you at one of our telecommunication companies here in the U.S. as they’ve been rolling out their 5G infrastructure, which is the single biggest initiative that they have as a company. And we all benefit from it because we’re now able to use 5G within our phones.
Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah.
Steve Fiore: They leverage Teradata and our platform to determine which city they’re going to roll out the 5G network in, in what order, and how much funding that they get. Now, to give you a sense of magnitude of this, this organization invests over $5 billion a year in their network and the 5G rollout. And they absolutely have to have trust in their data at the highest level to maximize the investment, ultimately to provide the value back to the customer.
Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, yeah. And so I think that’s a good segue to the next thing I want to talk about, which is, you know, customer growth and retention and just the overall experience. I mean, you know, to the example you just gave, you know, a little difference matters a lot, right? So, you know, making the wrong decision, you know, there’s a lot of potential gain, but also a lot of potential loss in making some of those choices. So definitely a lot’s at stake. How does your team at Teradata approach this idea of customer retention and growth through analytics?
Steve Fiore: We approach retention and growth with actually a lot of the same attributes. Yeah. Both start out with understanding what the customer is trying to achieve and how they’re using our technology. We analyze the data on a variety of different factors around system utilization, how engaged they are with education. Are they using new capabilities like our ClearScape Analytics experience, which drives artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities? And whether the customer’s growing or shrinking, we engage to understand the usage trends and talk with the customer to learn how we can drive more value to them. And in many cases, being prescriptive in our recommendations back to the customer. And as much as analytics and AI play a role in our team’s daily activities, it all starts with a customer conversation.
Greg Kihlstrom: And so definitely connecting those prescriptive items with the individual customers. there’s definitely a lot of the data that you’re capturing, it’s, you know, it’s, it’s very specific to each customer and their usage of, you know, whether it’s the products or services that you’re that you’re collecting data about. So there, it sounds like, it seems like there’s a lot of opportunity for personalization in all of that. So you know, what what role do personalized experiences and, you know, based on some of the customer insights you’re getting play into play into strategy there?
Steve Fiore: I would say it’s everything and it actually plays off of each other. So the customer insights drive how we personalize the customer experience, which leads to new customer insights. For example, we started working with one of our transportation customers and we hosted them in our award-winning executive briefing center in San Diego. During that discussion, we shared the capabilities we had with artificial intelligence and machine learning and how it could benefit them. From there, we shared a customized education plan and it culminated in a two-day AI innovation briefing for them. And To give you a sense as to what that is, it’s a workshop that helps the customer maximize the value of AI within their organization. And it’s been so successful for us as a company. We started it last year. Our CEO even mentioned it on our last earnings call. they’ve been able to get an increased usage of our analytics on our platform as a result. And the kind of the full circle moment for the customer is they’re actually going to be presenting at our annual users conference called possible in October to share their successes with their peers.
Greg Kihlstrom: Nice. That’s great. Yeah. And, and, you know, for all the, um, Lots of talk about AI, you know, of course, it comes in, it comes up in every conversation that I have on the show, I think every, you know, every episode, but to me, that seems like a real, it’s a real practical and immediately useful use case, wouldn’t you say? Yes, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. So let’s, I’m gonna switch gears here a little bit to another topic that you talk and write about frequently, and that’s personal productivity. And so, you know, we’re gonna talk a little bit about personal effectiveness and some ways to enhance daily productivity. So you’ve certainly, as I mentioned, you know, spoken, written about this quite a lot. In doing this, what strategies do you find most effective in managing your daily responsibilities?
Steve Fiore: Yeah, I found this during probably three years ago. I was in this mood where I was in between jobs at Teradata. I was doing my old job and I was transitioning to a new job. And it was probably the most I ever worked, trying to balance the two. And I found I was productive from eight o’clock in the morning as as well as 12 o’clock in the afternoon and five o’clock at night or six o’clock at night as I was going throughout the day. And I started to reflect as to what I was doing to maintain that level of productivity. I had the opportunity then to do a TED Talk on it. And so I shared those experiences. And there’s five things that I truly focus on. There’s probably a dozen or more that I do on a regular basis, but there’s the top five that’ll cover walking, exercise, sleep, vacations, drinking water, and lighting. And they’re all centered around this constant view of being curious as to what’s working and what’s not. Sometimes it works one day, sometimes it doesn’t, and then always trying to be curious to self-improve.
Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, it’s interesting. I mean, I originally came from a creative, like a design background. And I, I feel sometimes like that, that helps some people kind of figure out, you know, there’s only certain times of day that I feel creative, or now I write a lot. So, you know, there’s certain times of day, it’s, it’s not just about having meetings, it’s about like, my brain works differently, it seems like, at different times of the day. And so I know that and I capitalize on that. I know, you know, at a certain time of day, it’s the time for me to block my calendar off. And because I know, I’m, I’m probably gonna be in the in the right headspace to, to write or do do whatever is, I mean, is that is that what you’re finding as well as like different, you know, different things are more effective at different, whether it’s times of day or just different times of focus.
Steve Fiore: For me, it was trying to maintain the level of productivity from the moment I started work through the moment I ended to make sure I was giving that full attention. And not just on one day, but how do I do it every day, day in and day out, to have a consistent level of performance throughout. And let me give you a couple of examples. Sleeping. We all invest in things like the stock market, but do we invest in a good quality mattress, pillow, and sheets? We’re supposed to spend eight hours a day sleeping, which, if you think about it, is 33% of our lives. But do we spend 33% of our income on a mattress? Probably not. But you should look to invest in a good quality mattress. It’s a game-changing experience for somebody. And if you don’t have the finances to do it, I’d recommend doing some research and getting a good quality pillow. Lighting is another example. You know, when you sleep, you want those softer bulbs next to you on your nightstand to help you kind of fall asleep. But for me, when I work, I have 100 watt bulbs all around my office that gives me this greatest amount of natural light as I can replicate. in my office. And the last one that I’ll make reference to, and it’s probably the hardest for people to truly take advantage of, is going on vacation. And it’s not just going on vacation and taking the time out from work, but it’s physically disconnecting when you’re on vacation. For me, I’m actually leaving in a couple of days to go on a two-week vacation. the ability for me to not work and not check email and not even look at it.
Steve Fiore: I’ve come to realize that the world doesn’t come to an end if I don’t check my email. And when I come back to work that two weeks later, I’m so much more refreshed. People can feel it. I feel it. And everybody benefits from it. So that’s it’s the hardest thing to do, but it’s probably the biggest benefit that somebody can have when they go on vacation is not working.
Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, I mean, it seems like then, you know, given the vacation component, as well as the, the sleep component, it’s, you know, it’s, it’s kind of about, it’s almost what you’re doing when you’re not working is, is as important as, or, yeah, as important as what you’re doing when you are working, right? Is that is the is the break, in other words, a big component of the work itself?
Steve Fiore: Yeah, absolutely. I walk in the morning. I walk after lunch. And in both instances, I leave my phone in the house. It’s that physical separation of the being connected, which really, really helps bring a better clarity and a better focus when I come to work.
Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, because I mean, I guess otherwise, you’re just kind of, you’re half working all the time, which and not very productive in anything, right? Because, you know, it’s, as important as work is, there’s hopefully other things in life as well, right? So it’s, um, I don’t know, would you say it’s about being as productive as possible in all areas by being able to focus on the right things at the right time?
Steve Fiore: Correct. Focus on what you’re doing. Be present in the moment. You know, when you’re talking to somebody, put your phone down. Simple things like that. I took off all the notifications off of my phone. I found that when my kids were little, I was working after I put them to bed in front of the TV and I’d be on the computer for two hours and come to realize I was probably only doing about 20 minutes worth of work. That’s just not a good use of my time. And as I learned that, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve tried to just share that wisdom. All the things that I’ve mentioned, it’s not rocket science. It’s just following that discipline and being curious to figure out what’s working for you.
Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, yeah. What role do you think that leaders have. I mean, you know, there’s a lot of leaders in the enterprise listening to the show and I would say a lot of aspiring leaders as well. You know, is there, is there so much pressure to be on or online or, you know, or, or whatever the case may be that, to your point, taking a, I don’t know how long you walk for, but I do something, you know, I go for go for like a 30 minute walk every morning myself. And it’s, it’s amazing, because I’m not checking my email and, and doing all that stuff. But like, you know, is there so much pressure to just be kind of always on that? You know, what can a leader do to, like, kind of give their people permission to do this?
Steve Fiore: I think you have to set the example. For me, I make sure that when somebody’s on vacation, and I say this up front when I start a new role, I respect people’s time in the evening, especially as they want to be with family and friends or just downtime themselves. I try because I love to eat lunch. I always schedule time for lunch for myself, but I also respect other people’s time zones for lunch. So here I am on the East Coast, but I won’t schedule a meeting with somebody on the West Coast at three o’clock in the afternoon for me, which is 12 for them. I don’t call anybody on the weekends, and I absolutely don’t call anybody on their vacation. And it’s just setting that example that I do. And, you know, there are times when I get messages at night and I just wait until the next morning to respond. Again, the world doesn’t come to an end, typically.
Greg Kihlstrom: Right, right, yeah. No, well, this is great. Well, Steve, getting back to the first topic that we talked about, and as we kind of wrap up here, you know, getting back to analytics and AI and the enterprise, you know, what do you see on the horizon? You touched a little bit on some of the AI stuff. You know, how should companies prepare to integrate some of these technologies into their operations in the months ahead?
Steve Fiore: Great question. I think the biggest advancements are going to be coming in the next one to two years for us. I know everybody’s gotten accustomed to chat GPT and very excited about it. But the big software vendors are making massive R&D investments now. And I think we’re going to start to see the benefits of that in the next year or two. A lot of the attention right now is on the GPU vendors and the big spikes that they’re seeing in revenue and stock price. But I think we’re going to see the big vendors start to roll out new capabilities that the marketplace is going to take advantage of in the next year or two. And the biggest thing companies can do now is invest in the data. The data needs to be curated and more importantly trusted. Building AI models on data that’s skewed or not trusted, it’s going to result in the wrong outcome. We collectively as an industry have the responsibility to drive trust in the data so that the analytics and AI will be successful for the consumer or the B2B organization.
Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, yeah. And actually, on that note, I mean, do you, with the growing importance and usage of AI, I mean, it would seem data has always been important. And, you know, I’ve always believed that, but is it more important to have good data and good data collection practices and all that in this era of increased AI usage?
Steve Fiore: Absolutely. You know, I gave an example earlier today and it’s a simple example, but we all go to the grocery store and when the cashier asks for our frequent shopper card and we don’t have it, and they say, that’s okay, I’ll just type in 9999999. Well, then all of a sudden, you know, you do that across 4,000 stores, that 999 Customer number is the biggest consumer that you have, and it skews all the data. Now, it’s a simple example, but having trust in the data when you’re doing the analysis is critical. We have customers that Finance blesses the data. And when that’s the case, that becomes the gold standard for the data that they’re going to do analysis on. For many years, I called on property and casualty insurance, and the same data was highly curated. It was premium data and claims data and loss data. That data is used across the entire organization by every department. That data had to be highly trusted. for them to use. So now as they’re entering in the market for AI, it’s very simple for them to make that jump because they have trust in the data.
