This week we’re spotlighting Alexandra Diem, Tribe Lead for Data, Analytics & AI at Gjensidige. Originally hailing from Germany, Alexandra’s journey through academia and a love for the outdoors eventually led her to Norway. Driven by a passion to help others succeed, her career has evolved from hands-on practitioner to leading teams and strategic initiatives.
At Gjensidige, Alexandra focuses on data platform strategy and making data usable and trustworthy for both people and AI. In practice, that means spending her time aligning people, priorities, and technology so the right things actually happen. Her perspective for the evolving tech landscape? Real-world impact comes from the data itself, and scaling AI successfully requires getting the fundamentals of data governance right first.
Hyperight.com: What’s the best way to describe your job to someone outside tech?
Alexandra Diem: My tribe delivers capabilities that make working with data and AI as safe and easy as possible for the rest of the organisation. My job is part translator, part architect and part change leader: I ensure that the teams in my tribe have a clear purpose, the right conditions to succeed and everything they need to perform at their best.
Hyperight.com: What originally sparked your interest in AI/data, and what keeps you inspired today?
Alexandra Diem: I’ve always enjoyed solving puzzles and finding patterns where others see chaos. As an academic I was intrigued by AI from the algorithm perspective and didn’t care so much for data in and of itself. What I didn’t understand during my academic career is that actual real-world impact comes much more from the data perspective, which is what keeps me engaged. It’s extremely rewarding when insights from real data help people make better decisions or solve problems they couldn’t solve before at scale.
Hyperight.com: What is one challenge you’re trying to solve, and why does it matter?
Alexandra Diem: The truly self-service data platform! Supported by automated governance and a strong semantic layer for our data. It matters because it is the only way we can continue to scale data-driven decision making by removing bottlenecks and moving work to where value is created.
Hyperight.com: A tool you can’t live without (tech or not)?
Alexandra Diem: I am almost embarrassed to say this, but at this stage in my career it is in fact PowerPoint 😅 It’s still the most effective tool I know for turning ideas into something that large groups of people can understand, discuss and align around.
Hyperight.com: What trend in data or AI do you think will shape the Nordic region the most?
Alexandra Diem: The shift from AI experimentation to AI economics. How do we measure the value we create from cost and what’s a sustainable model for it? Understanding cost, governance and business impact will become just as important as the technology itself.
Hyperight.com: What’s one piece of advice you’d give to others entering the data and AI field?
Alexandra Diem: Cover your bases! Data governance has so far been overlooked because humans are remarkably good at compensating for poor data quality. AI is not. If you want to create value from AI at scale your data governance game needs to be strong.
