Keboola has launched its Podcast!

Our CEO, Pavel Dolezal, hosts DataHeroes - a podcast about data, current technology trends and innovative company culture.

The decision to record the podcast was driven by Pavel’s desire to share everything he has learned from real data heroes – people that are significantly changing their companies from within, from CEOs to Lead Data Scientists. Covering the cultural aspects of data and data-driven companies, the conversation also turns to ideal data and tech stack every now and then.

Pavel’s first guest is Jeff Miller, VP of technology at Roti Modern Mediterranean, a Chicago-based restaurant chain which has enjoyed rapid expansion over the past year. Roti has transitioned from being a traditionally-led company to one that is more tech and data-driven. Pavel is keen to find out how Roti makes that happen and what challenges they face while still retaining almost 100 percent year-on-year growth in the tough, fast-paced market of today. Jeff’s rich work experience and passion for data made him the natural choice for the first podcast episode. By the way, Pavel also happens to be a big fan of Roti’s Mediterranean food.

In the podcast Jeff and Pavel discuss Jeff’s love of all things technological and its influence on his career path, which took him into the world of e-commerce. Jeff then describes what it takes to drive company transformation, how asking questions and resolving them was the first step in successful transition to a technology organization, giving him a new, in-depth understanding of the process. Before Roti, Jeff was Director of Technology Innovation & Seed Stores at McDonald’s. He took the relevant technology innovations and applied them in the food industry. He recognized the potential digital technology could bring to this sector and its customers, allowing them “full control around choice and convenience”.

Jeff also talks about Roti’s journey to success and about the great importance of visiting individual restaurants, listening to people and observing the environment: “You walk into this amazing brand with this amazing food. . . . You don’t want to lose that. But I want to understand how the business operates day in and day out. What’s our flow, right? And so we begin to understand and map our flow, and we begin to see where are the signals that are coming up through each one of those elements for us.”

Jeff stresses that it’s not just about data. “I don’t care about data as the end part of the journey. What I care about is the whole journey from data to insights and taking actions on those insights. And I want to make it accessible to all people in the organisation, across all departments, all the time, and from different points of view.”

This and more in the first ever episode of DataHeroes!

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