Dow Jones launches effort to make better use of its data

Chris Lloyd, head of the professional information business at Dow Jones, sent out the following email to the staff on Thursday:

Dear All,

In February, William Lewis announced the launch of a new Dow Jones Data Task Force, challenging me and Clancy Childs to explore the different ways our company can become ever-more data centered.

I am pleased to share that this project – now titled Nova, as a play on the Latin word for “New” and “News” – is off to a roaring start. Working from a new space in central London, we have spent the past few weeks recruiting colleagues from across the business, while investigating how Dow Jones uses, manages and maximizes data.

Joining us on the Nova core team are Helen Hewitt (Marketing), Tom Mahar (Strategy), Margaryta Maksimtseva (Data Strategy), Krishnendu Mondal (PIB Sales) and Wiktor Szary (WSJ Newsroom), who have dedicated the next six months to working with us full-time.

A broader team, composed of colleagues from our People, Legal, Communications, Customer Experience, Finance, Media Sales and Tech teams, will join the task force for shorter stints, allowing us to draw upon their particular areas of knowledge and expertise.

We will also be working closely with Dow Jones Media Group’s Francesco Guerrera, with Frank Filippo on the Print side, and with colleagues on the IGNITE program, who will take part in a one-week workshop hosted by the Innovation team in July.

Given the scope of this project, however, it is fair to say we need all hands on deck. We intend to make full use of the broad experiences and diversity of thought available at Dow Jones, and will do so by actively calling on your support and participation as things progress.

This will happen in three phases:

In phase 1, we will undertake an internal audit of the Dow Jones data universe, which will inform the development of a wide range of hypotheses. We want to get a sense of how data is being used by every part of our business, and how we could use it better.

In phase 2, we will venture outside of Dow Jones to meet with, and learn from, other companies that are using data in interesting and innovative ways.

Finally, in phase 3, we will build out our hypotheses with specific design sprints, proof of concepts and customer validation.

Underpinning this project is the recognition that data, AI and machine learning are transforming our industry, and the conviction that we too can harness these incredible forces for our own growth. We firmly believe that every part of Dow Jones should have a stake in this.

To that end, we will be sharing regular, all-company updates over the next six months. I would urge you to engage with these, and to get involved when and where you can — especially as our specific work streams take shape. We have also set up a team site (only available to Dow Jones employees) at https://sites.google.com/dowjones.com/nova (or https://djns.com/nova when on the DJ network) and a #nova Slack channel to help further communicate with the wider Dow Jones team.

Please email us at nova@dowjones.com if you would be interested in working with us. And as always, we welcome your questions, challenges and ideas every step of the way.