Dr. Abi Giles-Haigh is a morning person who prefers geometry to algebra and likes sweets.
She also likes data.
You might gather that from her PhD, which was about using technology to help cardiologists understand the electrical activity of the heart, understand surgery, and better predict it using AI. Or from her conference keynotes and sessions, where she presents a practical visual view of how to use data, analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to solve complex problems like fraud. Or from one of her favorite activities and topics, soccer (for U.S. readers; football of course for everyone else). She’s a devoted coach and player and – you guessed it – uses data and analytics to analyze team performance, change drills to help players grow where they need to, and adapt strategy to capitalize on her team’s strength…and her opponents’ weaknesses.
Or if you’ve been in the global analytics community in the last 15 years, you might know these things because you know Abi, in person, word, or deed. She’s a passionate, prominent, and approachable analytics aficionado who took time to talk about her journey, from early days as a junior Oracle DBA to being a data scientist tackling some of the industry’s toughest problems.
Gut Feels
“If you talk to someone, they’ll say ‘I think I’ve seen…’ or ‘I’m not sure that’s right’ – they’re gut feels. As a neurodivergent person I don’t really get the feeling. Instead, I see patterns and anomalies, so those feelings fascinate me.”
Using data and technology to tease out gut feels and solve real-life problems has been Abi’s motivation, through school and work. That’s why she chose her PhD topic, and it’s why, even when she’s just given a keynote, she’ll still sit down with someone to talk through a use case or a hunch. Her approach is to break down a problem into smaller components and then build it back up using technology and data, to tell the story of the solution. In fact, that’s her definition of innovation: being able to deconstruct a problem and reconstruct it as a solution, going down the stack and up the stack to explain the whole thing.
Oracle Technology
That stack is Oracle, including OCI and its AI services, Oracle Database 23ai, APEX, and Oracle Analytics. “I love 23ai. I think that’s because I’ve used Machine Learning inside the database since 12c. It’s secure, it’s at scale, it handles data cleansing, it’s got all the things that are hard for me to do outside the database – all of those are done for me.” She thinks the new services like Agentic Studio are very exciting and is eager to see how people adopt them in 2025 and 2026.
Abi is also a big fan of Oracle Analytics, and she’s used it all: Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE), Business Intelligence Cloud Service, Oracle Analytics Cloud (OAC), Oracle Analytics Server (OAS), Oracle Analytics Desktop. She’s also taken organizations like the UK National Health Service (NHS) along the Oracle Analytics journey. Early in her career she moved the organization to OBIEE, and then to OAC so they could take advantage of data storytelling, which assisted health professionals like pharmacists and general practitioners to understand prescribing habits, share best practices, and identify errors or anomalies to improve patient care. She appreciates how Oracle Analytics has grown, offering new capabilities and compelling visualizations that help her and her clients tell more diverse data stories.
She was so enthusiastic about Oracle technology that I asked if there was anything she didn’t like. She quickly said no, thought for a moment, and said that the only thing which came to mind was the volume and velocity of products and services, which can make it tricky to know the best combination to use and recommend to clients.
The Short Road to Success
Abi started her tech career as a junior database administrator straight out of school. She learned the database, the data, and how a business works. In just 4 years she was the head of Finance and HR Systems, and she was ready when the NHS came knocking with a data scientist position. At the time the NHS used an array of Oracle products that included Oracle Endeca, OBIEE, and Exadata. “It was an opportunity to combine my AI knowledge from my PhD with my database knowledge, and really the first job where analytics and the database came together for me.”
The NHS was also where Abi discovered she had a flair for using data to present complex concepts as visual stories that were actionable and compelling. That flair was a springboard to giving award-winning keynotes, neurodivergence notwithstanding, and to becoming a champion of the Oracle ACE program (she’s a director, the highest level).
After the NHS, she moved into leadership roles in consulting that allow her to work with diverse clients and problems that cross domains. An example she gave was anti-money laundering, which involves using data to track transactions globally. Those transactions can reveal criminal activity, but they can also surface human behavior patterns that help illustrate changes from events such as Covid.
Data is the common thread. “As an implementer, it’s been fantastic using Oracle technologies to solve problems across industries and clients, with data as the bedrock,” she says. “It’s all about the data, so you need to give your data some love.”
Getting from There to Here
So, what got Abi from a hamlet in Yorkshire, England, to being a prominent figure in the global analytics community?
She says that partly, her brain was wired for it. “As soon as I saw coding and how it linked things together, I knew that was what I wanted to do. It just clicked. It was so super logical, it just made sense.” Sports also played a role. Soccer instilled a core belief in teams and community, which is why she gives back today by coaching and being a user group advocate. Soccer also helped prepare her for being a woman in technology. In her small town, she was the only girl playing in a group of boys; in her university computer science class of 125, she was one of two women; as a data scientist, she is often the only woman in the room. (She did note that ratios are improving and was happy to say it’s been a very long time since anyone asked her to make tea for the lads.)
It’s important to Abi that people know she’s approachable. She says that no matter the circumstances, “we can work together to get the machine to help you find answers. It’s all about getting technology to help humans.”
For More
Abi is an Oracle user group advocate and a regular speaker, so look for her at UKOUG events; the Analytics and Data Oracle User Community (AnDOUC) Summits; and of course at Oracle CloudWorld in Las Vegas.
You can also connect with her on LinkedIn and @Abi_Giles_Haigh in the Oracle Analytics Community.