CASE STUDY
Are there any particular challenges you ’ ve faced as a woman in the IT space and if so , how did you overcome them ?
I have been relatively lucky in my career to not have massive challenges to overcome , but I think all women in tech share a similar story of remembering being in a meeting where a vendor comes in and speaks only to the men before discovering that you , the woman in the room , is actually the decision-maker .
The old ‘ boys ’ club ’ still exists and it ’ s certainly hard to get rid of , but there has definitely been a greater push towards diversity and inclusion initiatives in recent years .
Unfortunately , there is no silver bullet for solving some of these systemic issues , but for me it ’ s always been about delivering what ’ s expected of me in my role , being a voice in the industry and creating a diverse workforce and an environment where gender discrimination is never acceptable .
Moving forward , how will the use of data enable you to achieve Digital Transformation ? a birds-eye view of potential opportunities to gather data . We work with other areas of the business to determine what their plans are , such as marketing campaigns and big upcoming announcements , so we can adapt and avoid missing any opportunities .
What advice would you offer other women in the industry who aspire to be in a position such as yours ?
Technology and data are still very much maledominated fields , but I can see more and more women choosing this career path which is uplifting to see . There is no one-size-fits-all approach , but my general advice for women aspiring to enter the tech industry is to be bold , make mistakes and learn from them . It ’ s also important to hire the right people to complete your skillset and be transparent with them when it comes to expectations . We ’ re all human , so we don ’ t always have the answer , and that ’ s OK .
Women in leadership roles in the tech industry have to be seen by their colleagues and speak up even when it ’ s not easy . Remember , you ’ re not just doing it for yourself . You are making your voice heard for the 12-year-old girl who is learning Python and aspires to enter into a similar role one day . Visibility is important . As the saying goes : ‘ If you can see it , you can be it ’.
We have a lot of exciting plans for ITV in 2022 . The way we approach our data platform – also known as data mesh development – is somewhat new in the industry and it comes with lots of platform automations . In terms of ML , we have lots of information around personalisation for our audiences , and in the longer term we will have a lot of rich content . There is a great deal of possibilities around computer vision and Neuro-Linguistic Programming ( NLP ) and also some really interesting developments in optimisation on the horizon . p
WHAT WE ARE REALLY CONCERNED ABOUT IS WHAT VALUE WE CAN GATHER FROM DATA AND HOW THAT CAN BE USED
TO TRANSFORM OUR SERVICES AND DELIVER
A GREAT EXPERIENCE FOR VIEWERS .
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