The Data Playbook Podcast

• S2 E5. Beyond Hyperscalers: How to Run Modern Data Platforms on European Clouds - The Data Playbook Podcast with Kris Peeters & Niels Claeys

  EU clouds without the hype. Niels Claeys (Partner & Lead Data Engineer at Dataminded, and our technical hiring lead) breaks down data sovereignty vs. Cloud Act, GDPR realities, and a portable, Kubernetes-first stack with Iceberg, Trino, and Airflow. We compare Scaleway, OVH, Exoscale, UpCloud, look at cost drivers, encryption/KMS, egress policies, and how to avoid vendor lock-in plus when best-of-breed beats all-in-one and why “keep it simple” still wins.What you’ll learn:When EU clouds make more sense than hyperscalers (and when they don’t)Designing a portable platform: Terraform/Tofu for infra, Argo CD for appsTable formats 101: why Apache Iceberg over plain Parquet/CSVQuery layer choices: Trino for open SQL across object storage & DBsOrchestration in practice: Airflow patterns, dependencies, SLAsSecurity & governance: OPA for fine-grained policies, IAM, catalogsCost & ops: egress, managed services gaps, version lag, troubleshootingTeam skills: what to hire for, and the “hard questions” Niels asks in interviews🌐 More at ⁠www.dataminded.com⁠ — and subscribe!Chapters00:00 Intro & why EU clouds now04:40 Compliance & legal: GDPR, Cloud Act, sovereignty11:55 Platform blueprint: Kubernetes + Iceberg + Trino + Airflow20:30 Catalogs, OPA, IAM & access control27:10 EU providers deep dive: Scaleway, OVH, Exoscale, UpCloud36:20 Cost, encryption/KMS, egress & performance43:10 Best-of-breed vs all-in-one (and glue work)51:00 Getting started: IaC, Argo CD, day-2 ops56:40 Hiring: interview signals & practical takeawaysKeywordsEU cloud, European cloud providers, data sovereignty, GDPR, Cloud Act, Kubernetes data platform, Apache Iceberg, Trino, Airflow, vendor lock-in, OPA, Argo CD, Terraform, Exoscale, Scaleway, OVH, UpCloud

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• S2 E4. Build vs Buy in the GenAI Era: Inside Belfius’ Data & AI Strategy - The Data Playbook Podcast with Kris Peeters & Hannes Heylen

  Belfius Insurance’s Head of Data & AI, Hannes Heylen shares how his team scaled GenAI - from a fraud detection flywheel to “Nestor,” a claims copilot that speeds summaries, completeness and coverage checks. We unpack AI agents in the claims flow, build-vs-buy decisions, and why content/data governance drives LLM quality. Plus: a pragmatic delivery mantra - make it work, then right, then cheap - for CIOs, CDOs and Heads of Data.What you’ll learnHow to pick first AI cases that prove €ROI (fraud models)Designing a claims copilot: summarization, completeness & coverage checksWhere AI agents fit (GenAI + ML + humans) across the claims flowBuild vs. buy in 2025: foundation models, vendor flexibility, cost controlContent/data governance as the make-or-break for LLM apps“First make it work, then right, then cheap”: an AI operating model for CIO/CDOGuest: Hannes Heylen, Head of Data & AI, Belfius Insurance🌐 More at ⁠www.dataminded.com⁠Chapters:00:00 Why AI now in financial services06:30 GenAI’s impact on text-heavy insurance processes18:40 AI agents across claims31:00 Governance > model tweaks38:00 Fraud detection: the € case41:30 Claims copilot (“Nestor”) & lab-to-prod55:00 Lessons for CIOs/CDOsTopics: ROI-first use cases • Claims automation • AI agents (GenAI + ML + human-in-the-loop) • Governance • Vendor flexibility & costs

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• S2 E3. How imec scales research with data platforms: governance, workbenches, and adoption - The Data Playbook Podcast with Kris Peeters & Wim Vancuyck

  In this episode of The Data Playbook, we go inside imec, one of the world’s leading semiconductor research institutes, to explore how they scale data governance, self-service, and innovation in one of the most data-intensive environments on Earth.Our guest, Wim Vancuyck, Manager of ICT for Data & Research Enablement, leads imec’s data strategy - bridging IT, researchers, and business to accelerate R&D through digital solutions. Wim’s mission: make imec a data-driven research organisation that turns raw measurements into insights and intellectual property faster and more securely.Wim explains how imec built a research data platform that empowers thousands of scientists through:Purpose-based access control, linking people, platforms, and data assetsFour self-service workbenches for Power BI, Data Engineering, Data Science & AI, and Application DevelopmentA clear platform vision built on efficiency, scalability, and reliabilityA governance model that supports both compliance and creativityA pragmatic stance on shadow IT: embrace, standardise, and professionalize itA bottom-up adoption strategy driven by early adopters and community engagementHe also discusses his evolution from technical architect to data leader, and what it takes to manage change in a 5,000-person R&D organisation, balancing technical depth with people leadership.🎙️ Guest: Wim Vancuyck - Manager ICT, Data & Research Enablement, imec🌐 More at: www.dataminded.com#DataPlaybook #imec #SemiconductorR&D #DataGovernance #PurposeBasedAccessControl #DataMesh #PlatformEngineering #SelfServiceAnalytics #CIO #CDO #DataLeadership #ResearchDataPlatform #DataStrategy

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• S2 Ep2. Federated Data Governance in Banking: How ABN AMRO Scaled from 300 Data Owners to 15 Data Domains - The Data Playbook Podcast

  How do you turn governance from a bottleneck into a business accelerator - in a bank?In this episode of The Data Playbook, host Kris Peeters talks with Jan Mark Pleijsant, Senior Data Strategy & Governance Advisor at ABN AMRO Bank, about their move from 300+ dispersed data owners to 15 clear, business-aligned data domains and what it took to make federated governance work in a highly regulated environment.You’ll learn:Why “governance police” fails and how a federated model balances autonomy with oversight.How ABN AMRO defined domains by the nature of data (customer, loans, payments) rather than shifting business units driving stability across reorganisations.What “governance by design” looks like in practice (policies, standards, data lineage, quality, clear ownership).The evolution from golden (source-aligned) datasets to consumer-ready data products (“pre-packaged salads”) that speed time-to-insight.Why executive sponsorship, domain maturity, and delivery discipline are the real success factors.How to measure domain maturity, prioritize critical reports (e.g., regulatory & exec dashboards), and avoid endless debates over definitions by making differences explicit.Who should listen: CIOs, CDOs, Heads of Data, and Data Leaders building scalable, compliant data platforms in complex organizations - especially in financial services.Chapters:00:00 Intro & context (POA Summit)03:12 Why banks need strong data governance07:45 Federation vs. centralization (and pitfalls)13:10 From 300 owners to 15 domains19:40 Designing domains that don’t break with reorgs26:05 Data products vs. datasets—what changed33:20 Governance by design: policy → product40:05 Measuring maturity & building momentum47:30 Risks, success factors, and the next 24 months🌐 More at https://www.dataminded.com/#DataGovernance #FederatedGovernance #DataDomains #DataProducts #DataLeadership #BankingData #ABNAMRO #DataStrategy

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• S2 Ep1. Live from the POA Summit: Simon Harrer on Data Contracts, AI, and the Next Phase of Data Mesh - The Data Playbook Podcast

  What does it take to scale data products across an organization? In this episode of The Data Playbook, we sit down with Simon Harrer, CEO and Co-Founder of Entropy Data, recorded live at the POA Summit 2025 in Stuttgart.Simon unpacks his journey from developer to founder, the creation of Data Mesh Manager, and why data contracts are becoming the backbone of modern data governance. We dive deep into:The evolution from consulting to product-based data companiesHow data products and contracts drive interoperabilityWhy AI and MCPs will redefine how data is shared and governedThe future of Data Mesh and the rise of data marketplacesA conversation packed with real-world lessons for Data Leaders, CIOs, and CDOs driving digital transformation.🌐 More at www.dataminded.com🔗 Resources from the episode:Entropy DataData Mesh ManagerData Contract CLIData Product MCPEntropy Spin-off Story

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