Dear C-Suite: You Don’t Always Need a Data Revolution

I’m probably doing myself out of a job here!

Here’s a truth most consultants won’t tell you: Your business probably doesn’t need a multi-million-pound “data transformation” to survive.

But that’s not the story you’re sold.

The playbook is predictable:

• Hit the ground running.
• Paint a catastrophic picture of your data and tech landscape.
• Make you feel like you are one missed project away from collapse.
• Propose an eye-watering “solution” that looks like an arms race in cloud spend and headcount.

But here is the reality: Sometimes you already have the tech, people, and processes you need; they just need fine-tuning.

But fear sells better than pragmatism.

I’m currently working with an insurance client and speaking to their teams, they actually have a lot of fantastic things in place. Their business model is fantastic and they don’t need to “AI” everything! There are of course tweaks that can be made, which will be proposed, but if I said they need a wholesale change to all tech etc. I would be marched out of the building and stripped bare in the streets of London!

When you’re in the C-Suite, you have got to separate urgency from alarmism, and here is the part many consultants often miss entirely: your company’s culture, history, and commercial DNA.

If your business has been built on cost control and pragmatism, why would you buy into a vision that burns cash to “catch up” to some fantasy benchmark?

My 5-Point C-Suite Filter for Data & AI Initiatives:

👉Ask: Is This Evolution or Revolution?: if it’s revolution by default, it’s probably overkill.

👉Demand Cultural Alignment: any plan that ignores your operating style is doomed.

👉Measure Value Before Spend: if they can’t prove small wins in months, they haven’t earned the right to ask for millions.

👉Kill the Fear Narrative: problems are solvable. Drama is a sales tactic.

👉Protect Your Org’s DNA: tech should enable your business model and not overwrite it.

The most effective transformations I’ve seen weren’t driven by hype or fear. They were measured, culturally aligned, and built on a deep respect for why the business exists in the first place.

I’ve had the fortune of working in proper transformations programs and seen first hand how they can succeed. That’s why I often talk to the C-Suite about processes, culture and change. Which sometimes puzzles them because they make the assumption that I am the “data” person and will of course go straight to the data debate!

The question for every C-Suite leader is this:

Are you buying a solution to your problem or someone else’s idea of what your problem should be?