Interview with Marc Warner – The ASI

This blog post is part of Big Data Week interview series.

Enjoy Marc’s thoughts on Big Data.

While Big Data is already a buzz term, what does it actually mean for you? (an old question with a fresh answer)

I like to talk about two different strategies for prediction: very complex algorithms acting on small datasets (like our human intuition) and simple algorithms acting on enormous datasets. I think of the latter category as Big Data. Before we could test it, it wasn’t obvious that these simple algorithms with large datasets would perform well, but it turns out that they do.

Is it more important to be data driven nowadays? If yes, why (please use examples from your industry or your own case)?

f you come from a scientific background, or know anything about psychology, it seems insane that companies ever made decisions without trying to use all the data at their disposal. However, I think that there are valid criticisms of particular (incorrect) approaches to being ‘data driven’. For instance, people often focus on what they can measure at the expense of what is important. As many people have said in the past; it’s better to be approximately right than precisely wrong. Finding this balance is hard, as it boils down to doing great science in a business context, but it is possible.

What are the main challenges a company encounters when starting to look at their data?

Easy; data cleanliness and finding the right people.
Companies are rarely collecting data that is completely fit for purpose. That might seem weird, but it is really hard to anticipate what data to collect without having a good feel for what you are going to do with it. Often we do short engagements with companies, just to help them to start collecting the data that they’ll need to answer really interesting questions in the next year or two.
Secondly, companies are always crying out for the right people to do data science and data engineering. These are highly skilled positions and there are not many sources of sufficiently talented people. Of course, the ASI Fellowship is how we are fixing this problem, offering companies an amazing opportunity to hire great people.

You have a program for data scientists, can you tell us more about it?

The ASI Fellowship is a highly selective 8 week program in data science and data engineering. We take PhD’s and Post-doc’s from the worlds best universities, give them expert training, support from industry mentors and experience on commercial data science projects. ASI fellows go on to work at London’s most advanced data-driven companies, and we’re always interested in talking to new partners.

                                                                    BIO: