Strategies for data in an AI era
AI is reshaping how organizations think about data — from governance and discovery to how data is prepared and made usable for intelligent systems.
Join Actian and Thoughtworks in Munich for an informal evening session exploring how data strategies are evolving in response to AI. Through three focused presentations, experienced practitioners will share perspectives on what organisations need to consider when aligning data architecture, governance and discovery with emerging AI use cases.
Date: Tuesday, 31 March 2026
Time: 18:00 – 20:00 CEST
Location: Thoughtworks Deutschland GmbH, Munich
Join us in Munich!
This intimate evening session brings together data and AI practitioners to discuss how organisations are shaping their data strategies for the AI era. Three short presentations will explore different perspectives on the relationship between data architecture, governance, and AI. The discussion continues over snacks and refreshments, followed by an informal book signing with complimentary copies of the latest books by Tiankai Feng and Ole Olesen-Bagneux.
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Agenda
- Registration, welcome, and networking
- Session 1: AI Strategies and Their Dependence on Data | Tiankai Feng
- Session 2: Data for AI – What is the Right Approach? | Guillaume Bodet
- Session 3: Understaff, Underbudget, Overdeliver — How a Bootstrapped E-Commerce Group Builds AI Products | Tim Schäfer
- Session 4: Organizing and Searching Data – With AI, for AI | Ole Olesen-Bagneux
- Open end – Q&A, networking, snacks & informal book signing
Sessions
AI Strategies and Their Dependence on Data
Speaker: Tiankai Feng
AI strategies ultimately depend on the quality, accessibility, and organisation of data. In his book Humanizing Data Strategy, Tiankai Feng introduced the 5C framework, which focuses on the organisational capabilities required to make data work in practice.
In this session, he revisits the framework in the context of AI and explores how organisations may need to adapt their data strategies — from culture and collaboration to technical capabilities — to support the growing role of AI.
Data for AI – What is the Right Approach?
Speaker: Guillaume Bodet
Among data technologists, architects, and engineers, there is broad agreement that AI depends on a solid data foundation. But what should that foundation look like in practice?
This session explores whether the data architectures developed for analytics over the past decade are sufficient for emerging AI use cases, or whether organisations need to rethink how data is structured, governed, and prepared to support AI at scale.
Understaff, Underbudget, Overdeliver — How a Bootstrapped E-Commerce Group Builds AI Products
Speaker: Tim Schäfer
Most companies approach AI with large teams, long timelines, and careful planning. The ALL IN Group did the opposite – and it worked.
From Munich, the group operates four e-commerce brands and its own print production, serving millions of customers across Europe. No VC funding, no dedicated AI lab, and yet the team shipped an AI photo book in just 6 weeks that reduced customer creation time from nearly two hours to under 25 minutes, built an AI-powered product discovery that lifted conversion by 19% on day one, and is now building toward a future where customers create physical products through chat and voice.
In this talk, Tim Schäfer shares 5 counterintuitive rules the ALL IN Group learned while building AI products and driving AI adoption across an entire organization, including why they deliberately understaff AI projects, why they don’t optimize models until they have traction, and how they turned customer feedback into a daily AI-powered intelligence feed for every product team.
Organizing and Searching Data – With AI, for AI
Speaker: Ole Olesen-Bagneux
For many years, enterprise data discovery has followed a familiar model: search-based data catalogs supported by metadata and knowledge graphs.
With the rise of AI assistants and conversational interfaces, this model is beginning to change. This session explores how AI is transforming the way organisations organise, search, and interact with data — and what this shift means for data discovery and reuse in modern data environments.
Our Speakers
Tiankai Feng
Data & AI Strategy Director, Thoughtworks
Tiankai Feng is a Data & AI leader, musician, and optimist. As Director of Data & AI Strategy at Thoughtworks and author of “Humanizing AI Strategy”, he brings 12+ years of experience in analytics, governance, and transformation. Passionate about the human side of technology, he makes data and AI more approachable—and even fun—through music, memes, and fresh perspectives.
Guillaume Bodet
Chief Product Officer, Actian
Guillaume Bodet is a visionary product leader with an entrepreneurial spirit, combining deep technical expertise with a passion for building and scaling innovative businesses. As Chief Product Officer at Actian, he leads the vision, strategy, and roadmap for Actian’s data management and intelligence solutions, ensuring organizations can effectively harness and govern their data at scale.
Guillaume’s career began as a software engineer. Over the years, he has held significant roles, including Principal Consultant on Distributed Architectures at Borland, CTO and Associate Partner at Xebia, and CTO – Head of Product & Engineering at Finance Active. His journey culminated in co-founding Zeenea, a pioneering data catalog company acquired by Actian in 2024, where he served as Chief Product and Technology Officer (CPTO) and played a critical role in shaping modern metadata management.
Tim Schäfer
Team Lead Data & AI, ALL IN Group
Tim Schäfer is Team Lead Data & AI at the ALL IN Group, the bootstrapped, family-owned e-commerce group behind myposter, Kartenliebe, JUNIQE, Art Photo Limited, and the production company Printhouse. With a strong background in computer vision, Tim drives key AI & Data initiatives across the group – from the KI-Fotobuch, the group’s signature AI product, to the company-wide AI adoption program for 400+ employees. He bridges the gap between hands-on AI product development and the cultural transformation needed to make it stick.
Ole Olesen-Bagneux
VP, Chief Evangelist, Actian
Ole Olesen-Bagneux is a globally recognized thought leader in metadata management and enterprise data architecture. As VP, Chief Evangelist at Actian, he drives industry awareness and adoption of modern approaches to data intelligence, drawing on his extensive expertise in data management, metadata, data catalogs, and decentralized architectures.
An accomplished author, Ole has written The Enterprise Data Catalog (O’Reilly, 2023). He recently published Fundamentals of Metadata Management (O’Reilly, 2025), introducing a novel metadata architecture known as the Meta Grid. With a PhD in Library and Information Science from the University of Copenhagen, his unique perspective bridges traditional information science with modern data management. Before joining Actian, Ole served as Chief Evangelist at Zeenea, where he played a key role in shaping and communicating the company’s technology vision. His industry experience includes leadership roles in enterprise architecture and data strategy at major pharmaceutical companies, such as Novo Nordisk.
Venue: Thoughtworks Deutschland GmbH
The session will take place at the Munich office of Thoughtworks, a global technology consultancy known for its work in software engineering, digital transformation, and modern data platforms. Located in the Bogenhausen district, the office provides a welcoming setting for small, interactive discussions among the local data and AI community.