By Stephanie Simone
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Strategic small-data systems can outperform large architectures when designed around the real problem, the real people, and the real business model.
At Data Summit 2026, Joseph Hilger,COO,Enterprise Knowledge, LLC, presented his session “Simplicity as Strategy: Building Data Systems People Actually Trust.”
The annualData Summitconference returned to Boston, May 6-7, 2026, with pre-conference workshops on May 5.
“As I’ve talked to people it’s just more stuff, more stuff, and it’s not simple,” Hilger said. “Let’s learn how to make things simpler.”
The challenge is that many organizations’ data systems are overly large and complex, he explained.
“We have more data and more data sources,” Hilger said. “We have content that’s not organized.”
Complexity causes administrative burden and undue costs. Data managers and the information technology between data and decision makers cause time lags and errors. “Black box” systems lead to confusion and mistrust. Redundant data prevents both humans and AI from understanding and delivering answers, Hilger said.
To put the “business” back in “business intelligence,” focus on:
- Problems: What does your organization need to know in the flow of business?
- Users: What questions do they need answered?
- Outcomes: What is your organization seeking to accomplish? And what do you need from your data to do so?
A use case is not just a technical capability, strategic objective, or business area, he noted.
“It will never be simple if we can’t train our business users to tell us what they need,” Hilger said. “No one needs a report, they need the information to do their job and what that’s about.”
The more iteration you give to your client, the more you say, “Does this look right?” it becomes a joint problem-solving situation, Hilger stressed.
Competency questions are focused questions that aid in conceptualizing, scoping, validating, and testing a solution that involves semantic and AI components such as ontology and knowledge graphs. This is a better way to understand what users are asking for.
“We’ve started to take away the complexity the business users have thrown at us,” Hilger said.
Many Data Summit 2026 presentations are available for review athttps://www.dbta.com/datasummit/2026/presentations.aspx.