To say the world has moved on a bit since the first edition of this book would be an understatement; the world of data has moved even faster and continues to do so, and that rate of forward movement seems to be accelerating. The leaders are leading from a greater distance and others are falling behind. Data is becoming the differentiator. It is probably more nuanced than that. Where organisations have embedded data deeply into the heart of their change, transformation and business processes then that has become the true differentiator in the markets and verticals. We still hope that this book has done what it aimed to do, which was to share our knowledge and the knowledge of the countless data professionals we work with in order to help you. We have enjoyed and been privileged to beg and borrow knowledge from our fellow data professionals, who have been most generous with their time and ideas, and we both know we have added massively to our own experience and learning through this process. There were also times that we both wondered why we thought this would be a good idea again, but thankfully they were relatively few and far between! On the contrary, we have found this a rewarding and stimulating exercise. We’ve listened a lot over the past two years, and it has been interesting and encouraging to note that there are now more, and an increasing number, of well-informed voices to listen to.

This excerpt from the first edition is as true now as it was then – data is still an exciting place to be and we feel even more strongly how lucky we are.