In an interview with Hubadviser, Maxime Havez, Group Chief Data Officer at Crédit Mutuel Arkéa talks about his career which allowed him to climb the ranks of the data team to take the helm of a Data Office of around forty. of collaborators. He explains to us how the Data maturity has developed as well as his vision of the role of CDO.
Hello Maxime, can you introduce yourself please?
I am Maxime Havez, I started my career at Decathlon already in data. I then lived for a few years in London where I worked for the Telegraph and then Virgin.
I joined Crédit Mutuel Arkea in 2016 as a Data Scientist, then Datalabs Manager, then Datalabs and Innovation Manager then Chief Data Officer since the beginning of 2022.
What made you want to join Crédit Mutuel Arkéa?
I wanted to join the group because there were already some Data fundamentals. Work had already been undertaken to improve the quality of data and build a platform.
It was explained to me that the ambition of the group was to exploit the data, to contribute directly to the business. And that’s what appealed to me.
How do you create a data governance in such a large group with so many subsidiaries?
You have to start with the global model you want to adopt. At L’Oréal, what made sense to us was to have a federated governance. The Data Owners are not in my team, they have to be in the business lines directly, the business lines are the ones who are most likely to use the data.
Then we articulated data governance around two main missions:
1) Data Ready for Business: making data accessible and reliable for the business
2) Business Ready for Business: educate the business units on how to use and leverage data.
How were you able to launch business use cases?
We communicated a lot to secure business sponsors with whom we were able to collaborate. Our first use cases we went to look for them, they did not come down to us.
Crédit Mutuel Arkéa has chosen to unite the Datalab with the innovation department, why this choice?
The transition from Datalab to Data Office has the following reasons:
1) We realized that almost all of the projects managed by the innovation department included a strong Artificial Intelligence dimension. It made sense to join forces to improve on AI.
2) Within the Datalab, we have chosen to adopt methodologies from open innovation. A Data project is first of all innovation before it is put into production, it made sense to get closer so that we could integrate proven ways of working.
Have you managed to launch data use cases and how?
Today we have many data use cases in many areas such as regulations, talent recruitment or customer relations.
In my opinion, we should not oppose exploration and production. You have to go through POC phases and at the same time involve the DSI to talk about the management of the RUN post production.
Respecting this progression of steps is decisive because if we talk about RUN management too early, we can risk not doing a project that would nevertheless have a lot of value. You have to feel things and think a lot about the human dimension.
How long does it take you to launch a new use case?
To answer you, I must tell you that I do not define a new use case such as the production of a new application on the IS. This should include business onboarding, governance and management of this application. This process takes time, several months minimum.
What are your hot topics at the moment?
Governance and acculturation.
On governance, the question of the management of the RUN is a big issue. The point is to determine from when the Data teams hand over to the IT department.
On acculturation, we must remember a truth: the more the professions are educated in Data, the shorter the production start-up. In the event of low Data & Digital maturity, this process takes longer.
As Chief Data Officer, what is your main role?
As a CDO, what takes me the most time is explaining our global Data approach. It means meeting the data owners, doing all the synchronization points with our data relays in the different entities and training all the employees. Acculturation is my main challenge for 2023. We need to be able to support the whole group in this Data & AI transformation. This is what will allow us to achieve the objectives set.
Hubadviser Go from CIO to CEO. What do you think of Hubadviser?
This has a lot of value for me because the Data subject is so new that we need to rely on concrete and proven feedback to justify decision-making.
To get our white paper on a key Data Management trend, Data Mesh, co-authored with Noël Cavalière, Ex Head of IT Architecture at Stellantis, let us know.
