Amazed by the power data holds

Meet Adriana Calomfirescu

“To support our customers the best we can, we need to learn new things and experiment with new technologies every single day.”?

Wondering who are the people behind our tech solutions? Say hello to Adriana Calomfirescu, our Group Head of Data Delivery. Delve into this short Q&A to learn more about her passion for data, see what keeps her focused and engaged every day – and let her shed light on what's around the corner in data analytics.?

First things first, please tell us about your role and responsibilities.?

I'm responsible for setting up the technology direction for the Data discipline in Endava. Firstly, a major part of my job is to identify the technology trends in the world of data and to ensure the constant growth of technical competencies in the data discipline. Secondly, and just as importantly, I'm in charge of ensuring the governance across all data projects.??

How would you recap your Endava journey so far??

I've been working with Endava for more than 13 years now. In the early days, I started my journey in my hometown, Bucharest, with a small but dedicated team of specialists. Over time my team has grown to a few hundred data specialists across Europe and Latin America, working in various roles. ?

Sounds like an incredible adventure. What do you like the most about your job???

Simply put, it's about data. I'm amazed by the power data holds. I see it as a strategic asset – as Masayoshi Son nicely said, "Those who rule data will rule the world". It's incredible how our solutions enable customers to extract the valuable insights they need to exceed their limitations, grow their businesses and thrive.??

Tell us more about the achievements you are most proud of.???

I'm very proud that we grew to over 400 data specialists worldwide. I've always had the following motto: Growth and Technical excellence. I've been leading the development of our global data-specific training programs, addressing all seniority levels. Thanks to these learning opportunities, I'm thrilled to see our people expand their skills and grow in their professional careers.? ?

Let's switch gears and talk about data trends. What's your impression of the evolution of data analysis over the last few years??

Looking back, 6-7 years ago, we used to implement traditional BI platforms and analyse historical data to understand the present.????

Over time data platforms, tools and technologies have been evolving rapidly as the value of data is increasingly acknowledged by companies. We face large volumes of data containing valuable insights in today's world. Reaching such insights isn't an easy task, as first, we need to be able to ingest, then process and finally extract insights from tones of data. To support our customers the best we can, we need to learn new things and experiment with new technologies every day.??

Tell us about a data trend that makes you excited these days...??

I'm fascinated by the opportunities brought to us by Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Data and analytics platforms enable businesses to deal with a massive amount of data. Together with skilled specialists within the company, it opens the door to more sophisticated Data Science solutions. I'm excited to see what's coming next.???

How do you see the future of data analytics? Is there any particular trend we should keep an eye on???

A lot is going on. But one trend I'd highlight is the rapid progress of AI. Today, AI has the power to augment human capabilities in deriving outstanding business value, especially as the combination of AI and Big Data can automate and reduce the most manual tasks.???

Imagine that we evolve towards integrating the advanced AI-based programming code generation into our IDEs (integrated development environments). This integration would augment the skills of developers, testers and data people and reduce the effort they need to spend on development while maintaining the same quality.??

Organisations should think about data analytics tools as solutions helping their people better extract insights and empowering them to spot anomalies, predict events, improve themselves and be more efficient.?? ?

Will AI take over the data analyst role????

Not at all. I see AI continuing to improve, but I also believe humans will still play a crucial role. No matter how performant the data analytics tool is, there will always be needed a human set of skills to configure the tools, look at the results and make sure they align with the initial set of requirements. Also, exceptions will always need to be reviewed by a data analyst who, together with other relevant roles, can decide how to handle the case.?