Q: How did you become a technical director at a company like EMB?

R: I had a rather unusual career, which led me to this position. I have always been passionate about computers and I needed to realize myself in a concrete activity. I joined a large distribution group in which I first held responsibilities in managing the intranet.

Then I was quickly seconded to the Branch to manage large projects. My main job was to put in place technical solutions to reduce operating costs. I then worked for 9 years in a company specialized in the routing of emails.
And it is with these many experiences that I went back to EMB as technical director and data director.

Q: What is the role of EMB data director?

R: There are several responsibilities that fall to me.
First, I have to make sure that the collection of data is compliant, especially with respect to the RGPD. Secondly, I have to manage the teams that work with me and who are in charge of providing data, finding new sources, enriching data, etc. Finally, I have to take care of more technical tasks in the distribution of our data to our customers.

Q: Who are the people working on data at EMB?

R: We are a small team on a human scale. Some people work on "API-sation" of our data and on their deliveries to our customers, with all that implies in terms of security. Others are looking for new data and, above all, their formatting because we have made the choice at EMB to work only with qualified and enriched data. When data is not rich enough, we will systematically search for additional information to integrate it into our databases.

Q: What are EMB customer requests around the data?

R: Some companies are just looking for additional data that we have to complete their own databases. We are working on enrichment. Other companies are looking to validate their data.

Q: How does a data director see what's called Big Data?

R: Today everyone is selling "Big Data". But many confuse the storage and the volume of data, with the use that can be made of the data. There is no point in compiling and storing data that is of no use.

Our know-how lies in the use of the data. At EMB, we have chosen to use all the components of the data to redistribute it to our customers according to their needs and requests.

Q: And how does EMB use data to serve the business development of its customers and partners?

R: What we were most often asked for was email addresses from companies. But this trend is changing. Today our customers are looking for precise details for their communication campaigns. We strive to create well-informed contact sheets so our customers can reach and reach the right people.

Q: So are we going more towards quality than quantity?

R: Completely. We obviously need (and we have) volume, but we are now looking for more qualitative than quantitative. This also corresponds to changes in practices and regulations.

Q: What is the impact of these new regulations at EMB?

R: We had already anticipated them by applying the measures of the Digital Economy Act, now endorsed by the RGPD, which I think will benefit virtuous actors. All our data is consistent with the GDPR, and it's a reassuring factor for our customers.