Sure, collecting data can help guide you — but only if you know where you’re going.
Like a GPS, it won’t pick your destination, book your hotel, or decide if you’re headed to the mountains or the beach. What it will do is help you navigate the best route, avoid traffic, and make adjustments along the way.
That’s Harold Leusink’s analogy for his core argument: too many businesses expect data to hand them answers when, in reality, it’s only useful once you have a clear goal.
“We don’t ask our data, ‘Hey, what’s wrong and what should I do next?’” he says. “It’s, ‘I see a problem. I need to solve this. I need to understand why this is happening.’”
Data strategy isn’t a tech problem, it’s a leadership decision.
Leusink, a veteran of data and analytics with more than 35 years in the field, is set to take the stage at YYC DataCon 2025 to drive this point home.
As a senior leader at Adastra, a global data and AI consultancy, he’s spent his career helping organizations transform how they use data — not by chasing the latest tech trends, but by aligning analytics with business objectives.
And he plans on opening up that conversation in Calgary next week.
Flipping the data conversation
Too often, companies see data strategy as an IT initiative. The focus lands on storage, security policies, and system upgrades. These are all critical pieces, but none of them answer the fundamental question: How does data help achieve business goals?
“We need to separate data strategy from IT strategy,” says Leusink. “What is our data strategy? How is data going to impact our bottom line?”
Instead, Leusink pushes business leaders to start with three simple questions:
- What are your business objectives?
- What decisions do you need to make to achieve them?
- What information do you need to make those decisions?
From there, data strategy becomes about action.
Lessons from the Indy 500
Leusink’s upcoming YYC DataCon session, “Pit Stops and Precision,” leans into an analogy from high-performance racing. At the Indy 500, the sheer volume of data coming from a car (from engine temperature to tire pressure to lap times) can be overwhelming. But the goal isn’t to analyze everything, it’s to focus on the data that enables split-second decisions that win races.
“If our scope is too broad, then the scope of our analytics becomes massive,” says Leusink. “It’s a 500-mile race, three and a half hours, and imagine that data coming off of the car in real time. You can’t manage it.”
Instead of bogging yourself down in information, the key is knowing what actually drives performance, he says.
That same principle applies to business. The best data strategies focus on what moves the needle as opposed to chasing numbers for the sake of it.
Stop hoarding data, start using it
For years, the tech industry pushed the idea that more data automatically leads to better insights. But as Leusink sees it, companies are drowning in data they don’t actually need.
Leusink calls back to the big data hype — “store everything, just in case” — but if you’re storing data and never using it, it’s not an asset.
“If you’re storing data and you never use it, it’s a negative cost,” he says. “If you want to get value from data, you have to start with a hypothesis. You have to start with a goal.”
That’s where Adastra’s approach sets itself apart.
Rather than overwhelming companies with tech jargon and endless dashboards, Leusink and his team help businesses define how data impacts the bottom line. Whether it’s optimizing shipping routes for logistics firms or reducing unscheduled maintenance in mining, the best data strategies are laser-focused on business performance.
Focus on outcomes, not just algorithms
Artificial intelligence has become the ultimate corporate buzzword, but Leusink warns against implementing AI just for the sake of it.
“No one wants AI,” he says, noting that they want results.
“Instead, you’ve got to ask, what’s the business problem to solve, and how do I solve it?”
He points to Netflix’s data strategy as an example.
Their goal isn’t to get people to watch more content, it’s to increase subscriptions and reduce cancellations. Every data-driven decision, from content recommendations to renewal strategies, aligns with that mission. AI is simply a tool to achieve it.
From data to decisions
YYC DataCon 2025 runs from Feb. 27 to Mar. 1 at the BMO Centre and Platform Calgary. The annual conference brings together industry leaders, practitioners, and enthusiasts for discussions on the future of analytics, artificial intelligence, and business intelligence.
Adastra is one of the headline sponsors for the event, and Leusink said a driving factor was contributing to a growing data-driven culture and making data work for businesses.
“From our perspective, it’s about the collective,” he adds. “It’s about increasing knowledge, knowledge of the community, interacting, and sharing. I mean, it’s our backyard here.”
For Leusink, it’s an opportunity to challenge assumptions and spark conversations that move beyond the hype — and that starts with leadership fostering these discussions from the top down.
“If we can agree that decisions made without data are worse than decisions made with data, we’ve started a data culture,” he says.
For those heading to this year’s event, expect a session that challenges assumptions about data and AI — and maybe even helps you find your business’s next pit stop.
Leusink’s session, “Pit Stops and Precision: Building a High Performance Data Culture,” happens on Friday, Feb. 28 at the BMO Centre.
To get tickets to the event, visit YYC DataCon’s website here.
