Blog.

Where did 2021 go? It feels like 2020 only just finished, then blink and it’s 2022! Life always seems to speed up, but the enormity of what’s happening in the world – and how it’s been prevalent everywhere in home and work life, seems to have made it feel as though someone hit the fast forward button.

Take stock of what’s been achieved

So, it’s great to reflect and really take stock of what’s been achieved and really understand what it is that will move the needle in the following year. Will you carve out time to do that (I’ve found it really cathartic by the way)?

In 2021 the Cynozure business has delivered over 100% growth in financial performance. To do that I’m proud that we’ve partnered with over 50 different organisations across retail, publishing, financial services, property, energy, not-for-profit, pharmaceutical, leisure and entertainment, FMCG, legal, education, public sector, and more. All with the same desire: to use data more effectively in order to deliver value and improve outcomes.

The ever-growing Cynozure team has collaborated and guided positive outcomes together with our customers, empathetically, pragmatically and with a business value mindset.

Personal AND professional potential

One of the investments we commit to every year is helping others to attain their personal and professional potential. To do that in 2021 we ran over 60 meet ups, webinars, and events for thousands of data professionals.

We released nearly 60 episodes of our Hub & Spoken podcast, the original business focussed data podcast series focused on sharing stories, best practice, thoughts, and ideas on how to add value with data and data leadership. It was listened to in over 100 countries and played on over 100 podcast platforms. The CDO hub, our global members club for senior data leaders grew geographically and doubled the number of members. It continued to act as a growth accelerator for the CDO community, providing always-on peer-to-peer access to other world class data leaders.

One of the proudest achievements of the year was the release of my book with my co-author, Barry Green. Data Means Business joined the best-seller lists in several business and data categories on Amazon, and was spotted in the top 10 alongside books by some of the great business leaders that I look up to, including Simon Sinek, Malcom Gladwell, Stephen Covey and Dale Carnegie in the hotly contested ‘Business Management & Leadership’ category. The book acts as an anchor guide for the industry on the mindsets and approaches need to start and scale a data capability that delivers value in any business.

Build character

Along the way the year threw some curveballs though – we unfortunately had to deal with the tragic loss of life of our friend and legal counsel, Richard Maloney, who was a wonderful man who loved life, his family and cared deeply about his work and the causes he supported.

But I’ve blinked and that’s all done. It’s built character, it’s motivated and inspired. It sets the tone for the memories and the learning it provided. As we reach the end of 2021, here’s to a brilliant 2022 to look forward to.

I’m very aware that we have no automatic right to be in this business, our customers have no obligation to work with us, Cynozure’s team aren’t tied to working here. It’s the same in your business for sure, and I see it as my responsibility to work hard every day to earn a place; to be chosen because of the value that we add. And to create a working environment that people want to turn up to – and feel proud about what they do.

Looking to 2022

We have so much planned for next year – focused on the open and positive use of data. You’ll have more content, more community engagement activities around data leadership, data product management, solution architecture and more. The coaching and mentoring programmes we offer will be refreshed and stronger than ever. Defining and delivering data strategies will of course continue to be the bedrock of our customer engagements. Buzzwords will be demystified and turned into pragmatic, clear guides like data mesh, ESG, data management, data products, even the metaverse.

Customers can rely on us to do incredible work, the community can rely on us to help develop their craft. The Cynozure team want to continue to learn, develop and grow. And most of all we will deliver with purpose and make an impact on the world.

We’re up for the challenge and can’t wait to get cracking.