Is your data ambition stuck at buzzwords? Here’s why.
Many organisations embark on data initiatives full of energy because they feel they ‘should be doing something with data too’. People talk about AI and data-driven working, just as they once talked about big data. Yet behind those ambitions, a shared direction is often missing. The business defines its needs, IT builds a solution, and somewhere in between the original purpose gets lost.
With my background in public administration and experience in IT, I have seen that technology is rarely the biggest obstacle. Data only becomes valuable when its meaning is clear, processes are well designed and people can work with it confidently. It is the connection between the organisation, policy and technical delivery that determines whether an initiative truly gets off the ground.
That frustrates me, because data can make a real difference when people, processes and technology are genuinely connected. Without that connection, data management remains an ambition on paper, decisions continue to be driven by gut feeling, and new initiatives follow one another without delivering lasting results. Not because organisations lack data or technology, but because ownership, meaning and collaboration are missing.
That is why I founded Splicta. I want to help organisations move beyond the buzzwords and return to the questions that truly matter: which decisions do we want to improve, what information do we need to do so, and how do we make sure people are both able and willing to work with it? I believe data is never an end in itself. It only becomes valuable when it provides direction, builds trust and demonstrably helps an organisation move forward.
Where business, IT and data understand one another
Good data solutions do not begin with a system, dashboard or database, but with the question of what an organisation needs to understand, decide or accomplish. Business and IT often speak a different language. Terms may appear self-evident while their definitions, context and business rules differ. As a result, dashboards can contradict one another and technically correct data may still fail to provide useful information.
I therefore begin by mapping the relationships: which concepts matter, how are they connected, who owns them, what level of quality is required and how will the data be used? Conceptual, logical and physical data models then provide the translation between organisational goals and technology. This turns information needs, metadata, governance, privacy and security into concrete design choices rather than isolated IT concerns.
This broad perspective is also central to my training courses on data management and data modelling. Through practical cases, participants learn to ask the right questions, make business rules explicit and treat data as a valuable asset belonging to the entire organisation. The model is never the end goal: it is the shared language that enables business and IT to build solutions that are understandable, manageable and genuinely useful.
Community involvement
Alongside my professional work, I value contributing to communities. In several associations I have fulfilled board and hands-on roles, including treasurer and developer of digital solutions.
For Hapkido Hoeksche Waard (Chimyung Kwan), for example, I developed a system that enables members to view techniques, make notes and handle exam-related matters digitally. That experience fits closely with Splicta's direction: practical customer portals and digital support for processes.
Would you like to meet?
I would be happy to discuss your data or digitalisation challenge.
Get in touch