Retail was the sector I chose to go into after school because I wanted to work in a shop. After a baptism of fire and learning what not to do on the sales floor of BHS, I started to rethink my prospects. Looking for career prospects I went to work in Tesco's buying office to understand how they did volume retailing. I learned how to master data. That was 2007. The technology has advanced since then but the principles are the same. That data knowledge served me well in subsequent roles. That and my ability to enthuse people with adopting technology in their business processes to support better, faster business. I have founded ivity which is an L&D business focused on data. It is designed so that smaller businesses can get quick fast training when they need improved confidence with systems. Data skills are key to business development, project management, day-to-day operational planning, invoicing accurately, pricing well, and communicating business metrics.