Rishi Nalin Kumar is the Chief Scientist at eBench. He is an analytics expert who has worked in the corporate and startup environments while also supports DataKind, which fosters the collaboration between top data scientists and social change organisations in projects to maximise positive social impact.
About Rishi and what ideal data for good projects should have
Rishi visited us from London to share his main lessons as DataKind’s Chapter Lead. He is enthusiastic about having an increasing number of initiatives (like hackathons and organisations -of all kinds-) which have as startpoint a societal challenge requiring solutions via analysing data pools.
His experience in building synergies to use data as a catalyser for social change has taught him to keep an open mind to changes, as the original objective set for a project may evolve along with its findings. Additionally, Rishi emphasized the importance of involving people with a non-data background in the projects in order to build well-grounded solutions. What is also important to consider is that a project’s good cause requires many other element on board to be successful, and that it is essential to always validate that the following elements are on board:
Relevant data + reliable partner to work with
+ well framed problem + simple solution to be implemented
When asked about what is a major general challenge towards data, Rishi confirmed that organisations need to update their view towards customer segmentation. The usual approach of defining a very fixed set up rules (for instance, grouping customers by the last way they performed a certain action) is less efficient than considering identity traits to spot behavioural patterns. The complexity involved to do so would certainly worth approaching customers in a more assertive manner.
A takeaway from Rishi’s presentation
“If data is the new oil, privacy is the new climate change”
Looking forward to keep on listening to your lessons on using data for good, Rishi!
Rishi’s interview:
Rishi’s presentation recording:
Rishi’s deck:
Rishi’s presentation’s sketch: