Analytics lessons from Manchester United at Irish Data Forum on 22 November

11 Nov 2013

Manchester United’s director of communications Phil Townsend will offer insights into how one of the world’s biggest brands uses data and analytics toward business, brand, and communications, when he keynotes at Silicon Republic’s Irish Data Forum on 22 November.

Cloud, big data, analytics, open data, data science – these are just some of the themes that will be tackled at the upcoming Irish Data Forum. As well as Townsend, the other keynote speaker is Gartner fellow and VP of Research, Stephen Prentice.

Townsend has been director of communications for Manchester United since February 2004. Prior to joining Manchester United, he worked for 10 years in the civil service, with the last five as the press secretary to the UK Minister for Sport, working on such high-profile policies as the decision for London to bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games, the building of the English national stadium at Wembley, and the expansion of public funding for sport. A lifelong Manchester United fan, Philip is also deputy chairman of the Manchester United Foundation, having been a trustee since its establishment in 2006.

Prentice focuses on the evolving relationship between technology, business and society, interpreting the complex interactions and trends for a business audience. He combines technical understanding with human and behavioural factors to build a compelling perspective on how technology is changing the world, and frequently delivers keynote presentations at high-profile events around the world. He works primarily with senior business executives across multiple industries and in all geographies to help them build effective business strategies for the digital age. 

While our international keynotes will set the global scene, local leaders in the sector will take part as panelists in this major event, The Irish Data Forum: Putting the ‘I’ back in IT, which will examine the data revolution and how Ireland can be at its heart.

Local leaders include Stephen Moffatt, cloud computing and business analytics leader, IBM; Prof Stefan Decker, director of INSIGHT @NUI Galway; Dr Tracey Lauriault, National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis (NIRSA), NUI Maynooth; Andrew Maybin, managing director, Tibus; Tanya Duncan, managing director, Interxion; Maurice Mortell, managing director, Ireland, TelecityGroup; and Adelaïde Mouliere, Cloud and Storage product manager, OVH.

For more information and speaker updates visit the Irish Data Forum website.

Old Trafford, Manchester, image via Shutterstock

Ann O’Dea is the CEO and co-founder of Silicon Republic and the founder of Future Human

editorial@siliconrepublic.com