The Data Experience Revolution: Moving Beyond Access to Action
Mazen Kassis, Head of Data & Analytics, Foodstuffs North Island
Mazen Kassis, Head of Data & Analytics, Foodstuffs North Island
Through this article, Mazen Kassis makes a strong case on practical and forward-thinking blueprint for transforming enterprise data engagement through Conversational Data Experiences (CDX). Centered around Foodstuffs North Island’s journey, he highlights how data becomes truly valuable when it’s accessible, trusted and useful for everyone—from frontline teams to C-suite leaders.
Powering Smart Decisions, From Aisle to BoardroomAt Foodstuffs North Island, I lead our enterprise-wide Data & Analytics function, which includes data platform strategy, governance, advanced analytics, and data product delivery. My team’s purpose is simple but bold: to make data accessible, trusted, and useful, for everyone, every day. We operate at the intersection of cloud technology, modern data governance, and user enablement, ensuring data becomes a strategic asset that powers decisions from the supermarket floor to the boardroom.
Meet Your Data Like You Meet Siri: Simple, Natural, Instant-
The technology is ready, the opportunity now is to embed it in a way that’s trustworthy, secure, and seamlessly integrated into daily work
Conversational Data Experiences (CDX) are exactly what they sound like: using natural language—typed or spoken—to ask questions of your enterprise data and get answers in real time. Instead of dashboards or SQL queries, imagine simply asking: “How did this week’s promo impact sales in Wellington stores?”
What motivated us was seeing brilliant people struggling to extract insights because they weren’t technical. We knew we could bridge that gap using the same technologies transforming how people interact in their personal lives—natural language processing (NLP), large language models (LLMs), and cloud-scale compute.
We wanted to solve two key problems:
1. Bottlenecks in access: Too many users had to go through an analyst or BI team to get simple answers.
2. Data fatigue: Even when access was granted, dashboards often lacked context or didn’t prompt the next question.
We see conversational analytics as a way to create a more fluid, intuitive interaction, especially for frontline and non-technical staff who require real-time insights to make decisions. It isn’t about replacing BI, it is about removing friction and reimagining how people engage with data.
Confidence is the New MetricThe biggest shift has been in confidence. When people can simply ask questions and get clear, contextual answers, they stop seeing data as intimidating. While we’re closer to the beginning of the journey than the end, we’ve seen users go from passive consumers to active explorers, testing hypotheses, comparing performance, and even spotting anomalies without needing deep technical skills.
It’s also shifted expectations. Once you’ve experienced a frictionless interaction with data, clunky tools and delayed reports become noticeably frustrating. That pressure is a good thing, it’s driving us to continue evolving the experience.
It’s Not a Tool—It’s a New Way of ThinkingWe start by framing it not as a ‘new tool’ but as a new way of working. We run short, scenario-based sessions where users ask real questions and see real answers, in their language, not ours.
Behind the scenes, we are working to curate datasets and starting to tune prompts to ensure the answers are both accurate and grounded in governed sources. This helps build trust. We also partner closely with our stakeholders across the business to support adoption and gather feedback iteratively.
Think Bigger Than Tech: Success Lies in the FoundationStart with a clear problem to solve, not just a desire to experiment with LLMs. Ensure your foundation is solid, if your data is messy, your answers will be too.
Second, work cross-functionally. Conversational data interfaces touch everything: infrastructure, privacy, governance, and user experience. You’ll need a broad coalition to succeed.
Lastly, measure outcomes. For us, success means more people using data, faster time to insight, and fewer ‘basic’ requests hitting our analysts’ queues.
Why This Matters for the FutureAt Foodstuffs, we believe that in coming years, most of our data interactions will happen through a conversational interface. The technology is ready, the opportunity now is to embed it in a way that’s trustworthy, secure, and seamlessly integrated into daily work.
This shift matters because 24,000 Foodies make decisions and take actions every single day. Whether it’s a team member managing stock on a supermarket floor, a store operator deciding on localised pricing, a category manager negotiating with suppliers, or a compliance team member navigating regulatory obligations—every one of them stands to benefit from better access to timely, contextual data. Natural language interfaces hold the key to making that access universal. When data becomes as easy to talk to as a colleague, it no longer sits behind systems, it becomes embedded in how the business thinks, acts, and adapts.
