Abstract: 

The cultural change to adopt Machine learning and data science as a mainstream approach, particularly in a 150 years old organisation with thousands of employees, is massive.

In Santander we have successfully used a biological approach that has allowed us to create critical mass in a natural and effective way. By following an iterative, value driven approach focused on building capabilities as use case are delivered, on creating a platform as patterns are detected and gathering a community as people are involved we are spreading the data science virus throughout the company. We will discuss our model, its advantages and challenges and lessons learned.

Bio: 

Antonio Alvarez is the director of Data innovation at Santander UK. Antonio has 18 years of experience in financial services across 4 countries focused in technology, change management and data. After years in leadership roles in the integration of the banks acquired by Santander, Antonio now drives the transformation of Santander UK beyond a digital organization and into a data-driven organization through the creation of a collaborative self service environment for analytics and data science that empowers teams in all areas and at all levels to get close to customers and be innovative.