S4 | Ep 23 | Increasing Enterprise Value; How Private Equity is Leveraging Data & AI to Fuel Growth with Caroline Zimmerman, Director of Data Product & Strategy at Profusion

Driven by Data: The Podcast

In Episode 23, of Season 4, of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Caroline Zimmerman, Director of Data Product & Strategy at Profusion, where they discuss the research study she helped to conduct into how private equity companies are leveraging Data & AI to fuel growth and enterprise value, which includes;

• The catalyst for conducting the research study
• Why private equity has a very specific definition of value and how to measure it
• Why PE has a lot to teach the corporate Data & Analytics landscape
• The major differences between PE-backed firms and the rest when it comes to D&A
• Focusing on enterprise value
• Why time horizons are important and can create urgency with long-term thinking
• The differences between PE Data Leaders and others
• Why PE does ‘BI’ but not in the traditional sense
• The power of growth modelling and the relationship with investment/capital allocation
• The role of Data & Digital in value creation teams
• The career opportunities for Data Leaders in PE
• The two key ways that PE firms are using Data & Analytics across their portfolio
• Obsessing over understanding your most valuable customers
• Culture is still the main challenge to overcome
• The differences between PE firms who specialise versus those with diversified portfolios
• Why data monetisation affects multiple and not just profit
• Why horizontal investments into data infrastructure don’t exist in PE
• Why the D&A community should care about this research
• Why it still should be all about making better decisions
• Roles, titles and remuneration benchmarks of Data Leaders within PE
• Where you can find/access the research study

​A joint INSEAD research project by:

• ​Theodoros Evgeniou, INSEAD Business School
• ​Caroline Zimmerman, Profusion
• ​Olly Blaydon, Armstong International
• ​Shahbaz Alam, AWS