For returning Senior Principal, Data Strategy in our Toronto office, Jason Lam, data will always be king—but he knows that by itself data won’t change the world. Like many others at PS, he has always believed that coupling data with purpose-driven design makes digital business transformation possible. It’s this focus that brought Jason back to us for a second tour. Lasting friendships and team camaraderie definitely sweetened the deal, too.
“I’m passionate about data of course, being on the data team—but also not just data, but how we can use that data. [Our approach is to] combine it with design thinking to make customer experiences better. That, to me, is front-and-center and the most important thing I was able to do in my time at Publicis Sapient.”
Jason has a lot of experience to draw from, stemming from 15 years in the industry, five of which were spent at PS. He has been a part of major projects that really made an impact on global brands.
“[We've] delivered some very interesting results and case studies with pretty large brands up here in Canada. For a major airline, we established an experimentation center of excellence that I built from the ground up. That was very rewarding. We also did something similar with a global QSR with their offer optimization strategy—we looked at how they approach their customer segments differently with different promotions, and we were able to quantify how much revenue they could drive as a result of implementing each of those promotions. Both of those projects drove significant outcomes and were highlights in my career so far.”
Before he left to work at another firm, Jason was an Associate Director on the Data Science and Analytics team. He says his current role is similar, but with a little bit more of a strategy focus to the types of engagements.
“One of the main reasons I left was to try my hand at working at a traditional consulting firm. It was a good learning experience for me as I learned how they approach things vs. how PS would do it. I had five years of experience learning how PS does things, but I wanted to know how other large firms approached things like qualifying opportunities, how they pursue and craft sales pitches, how they shaped deals, managed delivery, etc. Understanding a different way of working was interesting. I learned a few useful things and a few things to improve on —I think both are good learnings for me as I rejoin the team here.”
One of PS’s major changes during the almost 2 years Jason was away was the strategic refocusing of the organization on digital business transformation (DBT).
