The World of Data 2025 in Basel: Why technology alone is not enough

World of Data 2025 in Basel once again brought it home: The path to actual data orientation doesn't just involve fancy tools and sleek dashboards. Ultimately, culture, collaboration, and clear rules are what matter. Three presentations captured this particularly well – from Swiss Post, SRG (Swiss Broadcasting Corporation), and Swiss Re. Spoiler alert: It's less about tech than you might think.

Die Post is leading the way: Data culture is corporate culture

Raphael Bauhofer of Swiss Post put it quite clearly: Without cultural transformation, every technological initiative fizzles out. It sounds like buzzword bingo at first, but it's meant deadly seriously. When the traditional mail business shrinks, data culture suddenly becomes vital for survival—not as a nice-to-have add-on, but as part of the company's DNA.

Everyone knows the challenges: silos here, language confusion there, no one feels truly responsible, and data literacy is a problem, too. Swiss Post, on the other hand, relies on transparency, ethics, and targeted skills development—a clever approach that enables an impact analysis to show which areas need help most urgently.

The result? A data culture that extends beyond the IT department and permeates the entire company. It takes longer than expected, but it's also sustainable.

SRG: "From Silos to Synergy" – or why stakeholder management is underestimated

Corinne Ruckstuhl of SRG (Swiss Broadcasting Corporation) had a rather complex task: to build a national data platform across language barriers and organizational units. Her solution? A brutally honest "not-to-do list":

Don't give up – it requires focus, resilience, and yes, even empathy. Don't remain silent – transparency and communication are everything. Don't prioritize speed over collaboration – the old "If you want to go fast, go alone" saying is especially true here. Don't fight every battle – sometimes you have to compromise. Don't think you're "done" – spoiler: you're never done.

The most important insight? Data projects are actually cultural projects. The technology is often the least of the problems – people and processes are the real challenge.

Swiss Re: Trust through visibility

Swiss Re asked the question many are asking: Why do so many analytics initiatives in large companies fizzle out? The answer was sobering: fragmented tools, unclear documentation, and contradictory metrics. The result: no one trusts the data, and no one really uses it.

The solution: A central D&A hub that bundles data, models, and documentation in one place. Plus, AI assistants that act like friendly tour guides and help newbies get started.

The result? More trust, higher usage, faster decisions. The roadmap ranges from foundations to self-service to assisted intelligence. Analytics is implemented not only technically but also culturally and organizationally.

Tech Excursion: Multi-Engine Cloud Data Lakehouse – an interesting approach from Pro Juventute

There were also exciting insights on the tech side. Pro Juventute demonstrated that the classic modern data stack is reaching its limits: too modular, too expensive, too dependent on individual providers.

Their answer: Multi-Engine Cloud Data Lakehouse. Storage and compute are separated—for example, Iceberg on S3—and different engines can be deployed flexibly. This lowers costs and reduces dependencies. It's still somewhat complex to orchestrate, but it points in an interesting direction: Flexibility beats vendor lock-in.

The big picture: Culture beats technology

Whether it was data culture at Swiss Post, stakeholder management at SRG, or analytics enablement at Swiss Re – the message was the same everywhere: The best technology is useless if people, processes, and culture don't cooperate.

Data-driven companies aren't built solely by tools, but by how organizations manage data. Only when all three levels—culture, collaboration, and governance—align can data reach its full potential. And silos truly become opportunities for a combined effect.