This week in the Data Futurology podcast, we have a special presentation to share. Ben Taylor, the Assistant Commissioner for Data Insights at the ATO was one of the leading keynote speakers at our recent OpsWorld event in Sydney. There, he provided delegates with a deep dive into the data journey for the ATO in recent years. 

As you can probably guess, the ATO handles millions of lines of data every day, across data lakes that are petabytes in size. With a data team of around 800, there is often the sense that they’re racing against chaos to deliver. However, in recent years, the effort to transform and modernise the approach to data has been highly successful. The ATO was able to transition to cloud-driven data systems, and is now seen as a deep and strategic partner to the other lines of business within the organisation. 

In this presentation, Taylor shares some open and transparent examples of the challenges that the ATO faced, the steps that they took to embrace AI and automated analytics while maintaining human oversight and decision-making, and how the data team went about building trust to earn the support of the other lines of business. 

He also overviews the value of XOps – what that means from the ATO’s perspective – and why all data leaders should be looking at defining and adopting a XOps approach to their own data strategy. 

For deep insights into one of the largest data-driven organisations in Australia, Taylor’s presentation on the ATO’s experience with data is essential.

Connect with Ben Taylor:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-taylor-962a2a60/?originalSubdomain=au

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WHAT WE DISCUSSED

2:17: Introduction to Ben Taylor’s presentation.

7:06: Taylor introduces himself and provides the historical context for the ATO’s approach to analytics.

12:53: Taylor describes the state of the ATO’s data environment eight years ago, and overviews the transformation project to modernise it.

14:24: Taylor describes some of the challenges that the ATO found with centralising the data and analytics function.

16:42: XOps in the ATO – what challenges led to the ATO approaching data this way, and what impact did it have?

18:03: What, exactly, does “XOps” mean to the ATO? Ben shares his insights on the conversation. 

19:27: Taylor shares an example of what XOps looks like in action at the ATO.

23:45: How did the ATO avoid becoming too process heavy, as Government agencies can at times become?

27:13: How can teams handle the sense of “chaos” that comes from increasing demands from lines of business, while also managing the legacy tech debt?

29:13: Q & A with Taylor from the audience.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• “Since the earliest examples of tabular data structures two and a half 1000 years ago to the earliest examples of statistical data and analytics about 350 years ago, the pace of human abilities in regards to data analysis has increased at an incredibly, incredibly fast pace.”

• “The real tipping point for digitally enabled data and analytics came a mere 27 years ago when for the first time, the cost of storing information on digital media dropped below that of storage on paper.”

  “At the ATO, we see data as the third note of a triad between business, technology, and data.

  “What exactly is XOps? Honestly, we've spent a lot of time asking ourselves the same question. If you go out there and try to find someone who can tell you what XOps is, you won't find it… although I'm sure you'll find a few consultants that will sell you an answer for a few $100,000.”

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