L-R: Dr Ric Wainwright (The Insights Family), Justin Doran (ICO), Holly Chatton (AJ Bell), Becca Anderton (hedgehog lab)
Our recent Tech Leader Talk, at No.1 Circle Square, focused on data and responsibility and was sponsored by hedgehog lab.
The lunchtime panel event was hosted by Becca Anderton, Head of Engineering at hedgehog lab. Our panel of data experts consisted of: Holly Chatton, Head of Data Governance at AJ Bell; Justin Doran, Head of Data Management at ICO and Dr Ric Wainwright, Technical Director at The Insights Family.
One of the first topics posed by Becca was that data ethics were no longer optional. Holly responded and said, “Trust isn’t built through tech but how you use it. Ethics and privacy are our foundation, by being clear, careful and accountable.”
hedgehog lab's Head of Engineering Becca Anderton addresses the panel at Tech Leader Talks
Ric added, “Being transparent is really important. Customers are happy to talk with us and we’ll take them on the journey. Our clients come in and we’re always transparent with them about the way that we collect our data. There’s no gatekeeping and we’re happy to talk people through it.”
The conversation moved on how you can innovate within tech and data, while still being cautious around ethics. Justin explained, “At the ICO we’ve just published our internal AI use policy. We want to be ambitious using data but aligning with both our core values, and our responsible position as a regulator.”
Ric added to this and said, “If we innovate really quickly, then the data can’t keep up. If the data isn’t ready, it’s important that we delay it, work on our data policy and improve it, in order to give our clients better data.”
Moving on to inheriting messy data, Becca asked what mistakes can happen? Ric explained that the first thing he did when he joined the business was to clean, categorise and improve the quality of the data held. As it’s a global business, it’s also important to understand the many rules of ethics and data within different countries, especially involving children. He explained that they work very closely with the ICO on an ongoing basis to ensure their data is compliant with guidelines.
Becca asked over the next three to five years, what’s the next frontier that businesses are not preparing for? Ric said that AI is causing them to see synthetic data and they now have to fact check and validate the data they’re providing for their clients.
Dr Ric Wainwright, Technical Director at The Insights Family, share his insights
Justin added, “AI is going to be a huge one in terms of data literacy and trust in AI tools. For example, rolling out generative AI tools won’t instantly make your business more efficient, you need to understand the technology and bring people along with you.”
Becca asked about issues and problems that have arisen because of data. Holly talked about an issue in a previous job where there was a mass data migration but via two projects which ran separately. Their team was told to keep out of the warehouse side of the project, but it turned out that a whole delivery couldn’t get the pallets through the doors because of duplicates in the data. This stopped the receipt of goods for multiple days while it was sorted. This was a great example of how teams need to work together to ensure that every aspect of the project, in this case the data, is considered.
Becca asked what advice would you give yourself if you went back five years? Holly said that she would have more trust in herself. Justin added that it’s important to think big but start small. Ric added, “Accept that it’s never done, you can never say data is done. You need to review constantly. Also quick wins are important for making changes within a business.”
Lastly Becca asked, what’s your trick for getting buy in for the long term and have you had any pushback?
Holly said: “Tell people what the story is and take them on the journey, tell them what is happening. In terms of pushback, I handle it by presenting facts through a dashboard so that people understand the necessity.”
Holly Chatton, Head of Data Governance at AJ Bell, speaks at Tech Leader Talks
Justin added, “It’s important to be transparent and continuously engage with your stakeholders, remind them what the end goal is.”
Ric said: “Data is our core product, so if we don’t get it right, we’ll struggle. You need to bring people on the journey with you. Data is the foundation for everything.
We’d like to say a huge thanks to our panel for sharing their experiences and to the Hedgehog Lab for sponsoring the event. Thanks to Feast and Flow for providing our vegetarian lunch, and thank you to everyone who brought a tin of food for the Mustard Tree charity.
Manchester Digital members can sign up for our Member Conference on December 4:
https://www.manchesterdigital.com/event/manchester-digital/member-conference-2025
