CASE STUDY
Case
STUDY
As part of its‘ Building our Future’ transformation, VisitBritain partnered with Databricks to power smarter, faster decisionmaking across the organisation. Using the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform and Mosaic AI, VisitBritain applies generative AI to analyse traveller sentiment, predict global travel trends, and optimise tourism campaigns.
Driving UK tourism with data: Talking tech with Satpal Chana
Satpal Chana, Deputy Director of Data, Analytics and Insight at VisitBritain
Satpal Chana, Deputy Director of Data, Analytics and Insight at VisitBritain, is the man leading this new strategy – although, he admits he wasn’ t always a‘ data person.’ An economist by training, he found his calling in using numbers to solve problems and more recently, in making a tangible difference to one of the UK’ s most vital sectors. With over five years at the public sector body – and now at the forefront of VisitBritain’ s ambitious digital transformation – we sat down with Chana to discuss his journey, his role in leveraging data for better decisions and VisitBritain’ s pioneering approach to AI in the public sector.
As a public sector organisation, how progressive has VisitBritain been in the AI journey so far?
I’ ve found VisitBritain’ s journey to be incredibly progressive and extremely ambitious, yet also careful. I think that balance is quite good. We spoke earlier about ethics and the responsible use of AI and data, and VisitBritain is no exception to this. I’ m quite privileged to be in a position where my board, my CEO, and my directors understand how important this is. We keep our eyes and ears open to what our sector and commercial partners are doing. For us, we need to understand and embrace AI to make it work for us, because our entire sector is demanding this. Our [ SC1 ] partners are doing this, and if we want to continue serving them in the best possible way, we can’ t just advocate for it or pay lip service. We need to truly lead the way.
I’ ve never had to struggle to get buy-in for what we’ re trying to achieve. People have always been on board; it’ s a question of“ how do we do this?” not“ whether we do this or not,” which is a breath of fresh air and really quite nice. My CEO has been incredibly supportive; she completely understands the power of data because in tourism, the benefits are so obvious. The journey is one I’ ve truly enjoyed. I’ ve never been in any organisation for five years, and I’ m still here now because I think what we’ re doing is incredible and the best is still to come.
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