Despite the almost-daily business headlines touting how companies are becoming data-driven and adopting AI, behind the scenes the reality is not as rosy as headlines suggest. Experts estimate that as many as 85% of analytic projects fail to produce business value. That amounts to massive amounts of wasted time, effort and money.  

Upon review, projects rarely fail because of technology, analytic talent, or platforms. Projects fail because of (poor or incomplete) human interaction. Business professionals and data professionals do not communicate with each other in ways that facilitate accurate transfer of key information. Further, neither group receives training in how to interact effectively. 

In this session, we will examine the many reasons why data and business professionals miscommunicate (language, personality, style, training), and how a new type of professional --- Analytic Translators --- can facilitate successful information transfer and achieve successful analytic results.   

Speaker: Wendy D. Lynch, Ph.D.  

Founder, Anlytic-translator.com 

For over 35 years, Wendy Lynch, PhD has converted complex analytics into business value.  At heart, she is a sense-maker and translator. A consultant to numerous Fortune 100 companies, her current work focuses on the application of Big Data solutions in Human Capital Management.  

In 2022, she was awarded the Bill Whitmer Leadership Award for her sustained contributions to the science of corporate health. 

As a research scientist working in the business world, Dr. Wendy Lynch has learned to straddle commercial and academic goals, translating analytic results into market success.  

Through her roles in diverse work settings—including digital start-ups, century-old insurers, academic medical centers, consulting firms, health care providers and the board room—she became familiar (and fascinated) with the unique language of each. She also became familiar with the difficult dynamic that often exists between business and analytic teams—preventing them from collaborating effectively. 

Those experiences led to her true passion of promoting clear and meaningful conversations that produce mutual understanding and success. The result is her new book Become an Analytic Translator, and an online course. 

According to McKinsey there will be a need for 2-4 million analytic translators in the next decade.  Dr. Lynch hopes to train many data professionals to fill those positions.