With over two decades of experience at the intersection of data, business, and technology, Andrea De Mauro is a globally recognised authority in data science and artificial intelligence.

A former Head of Data & Analytics at Vodafone and current Professor of AI & Data at the University of Bari, Andrea has helped shape data-led strategies across telecoms, manufacturing, and retail sectors. Named one of the “Top 100 Innovators in Data & Analytics,” he brings a rare blend of academic insight and enterprise execution.

In this exclusive interview with The Motivational Speakers Agency, Andrea unpacks how telecoms organisations can future-proof their operations by embedding data fluency, building inclusive analytics cultures, and redefining leadership for the AI era.

Q: Your work focuses on the human dimension of AI. What strategic advice do you give companies navigating the organisational challenges this brings?

Andrea De Mauro: Upgrade. I think we need to recognise, first of all, the importance of the human side. We find ourselves immersed in a narrative that is dominated by data, by technology, by algorithms, and we often overlook the effort that is often unsung and all the sweat that comes with it—the effort of the people that actually put these technologies, these algorithms, to work.

And I advise companies to look after their people in three ways. First, managing the talent—having a clear definition of roles, career progression and the skill development path for the data professionals. So, managing data talent.

Two, building an integrated organisation for the data analytics team, picking one of the models that are available out there and that suit best their current level of maturity. Recognising that companies are on a journey to utilise data analytics better and better over time. As their maturity increases progressively, we need to recognise this progression as well.

Three, ensure top-down sponsorship and drive also the right culture across the entire organisation when it comes to data. And accepting data-based decisions but also getting analysts and data professionals a seat at the table where and when decisions are actually made, which involves a lot of cultural acceptance. It takes time, but it’s certainly worth it to look after these three aspects—talent, organisation and culture—over time, progressively, and it pays very much high dividends.

Q: You describe data fluency as critical to success. Why must businesses ensure fluency across all departments—not just in data teams

Andrea De Mauro: Well, to visualise the importance of data fluency, we need to recognise that data analytics is a team sport. It’s not an individual contribution. It’s not the effort of a selected subset of heroes in the data function in the company, which are the data professionals like data scientists. It’s a team sport. Everyone is included.

A data professional alone actually will never be able to make it happen by themselves. And so we need that fluency across the entire organisation because:

One, in this way you can manage the fears that are often coming with the arrival of AI. These are very legitimate fears, like that the algorithms are taking out jobs. The only way to manage these fears but also to demystify all the opportunities is to be very inclusive and give everyone in the company a chance to really study, understand, explore the potential of data and AI.

Two, you want to get diffuse sponsorship and support, not only from top management. And to get this support, people need to know how this stuff works. That’s why fluency is important—to give them also a common dictionary to understand what we’re talking about when we talk about data and AI.

Third thing I would mention is that if you want to maximise business impact, you want business people to be part of the game, because the entire organisation knows the operating model of the company much better than what data professionals alone do. So, the only way to maximise is to involve everyone. It’s a sport team. It’s a sport team. We need to start from there.

Q: With AI now integral to modern operations, how should senior leadership adapt their management styles to stay effective?

Andrea De Mauro: Top managers should understand that managing data and AI is becoming part of their job description. It’s a new way of executing general management.

So, the manager of the near future—I’m not talking about the far future, but the very near one—will have to leverage both human and artificial resources to achieve their business objectives. They will have to orchestrate carefully the human and artificial aspects and foster collaboration between them.

They will know when to use data for their business needs. They need to stay curious about the technology. They will also know what questions to ask about data when presented the next model by a data scientist, or the results of a business analysis by a data analyst. So, they need to know what questions to ask.

All this means that top managers need to stay very close to what’s going on in the data space, stay curious, learn and be part of the transformation.

Q: What guidance do you offer to data professionals working to build trust and alignment with non-technical business stakeholders?

Andrea De Mauro: Indeed, data professionals are prone to some repeating sources of frustrations that are actually inherent within their job, and it’s important they acknowledge the fact that it is actually part of the job to manage this sense of frustration.

I often like to talk, whenever I have the opportunity to address data professionals, about these frustrations and how to deal with them.

There are a few techniques professionals can use. One is, first of all, to always recognise the frustrations of the business users when it comes to data—the fact that data sometimes is not readily available, the quality of the data read in reports and in dashboards is not always at the level we want.

We want to acknowledge that. We want to recognise, explain what’s going on under the hood, what is already happening, and what should happen to solve these issues. Show the overall journey, make business partners part of the data journey of the company, and explain what’s going on.

Another technique is to always co-create data capabilities together with business partners. They need to be our co-protagonists in the way capabilities are built. They need to be part of the design. They need to be involved on a frequent basis. They should be the heroes on our side of the data transformation.

Another tip is to recognise that it is not enough for a data professional to be right. It is actually easier to be right than to be heard—than to be understood—when it comes to data analytics. So, data professionals need to articulate concepts and the value algorithms bring beyond the simple number crunching. Work on their communication, and recognise it’s not enough to be right—it’s important to be understood.

Q: In what ways can data and analytics act as a catalyst for wider business transformation?

Andrea De Mauro: When you try to adopt analytics and AI at scale in a company, it’s like you are pushing a big reset button on the company. You’re pushing a reset button on how processes work, on how information flows across the organisation, on how people operate.

As you push this button, you’re basically rethinking the way decisions are made. You are boosting productivity so that humans can focus on human tasks and do less—leave more boring tasks to the machines.

And also, in a way that customers can benefit from a higher level of personalisation and care. So, the point here is that, with the excuse of rethinking the process because of data analytics, you are actually upgrading your overall operating model. You’re doing a big upgrade of what your company is.

I advise companies to really look at data transformation as a unique opportunity to press the reset button and get that upgrade.

This exclusive interview with Andrea De Mauro was conducted by Mark Matthews of The Champions Speakers Agency.