Singulier convened a Chatham House Rule breakfast in London with Oussama Moustabchir, General Manager of Graphite, to examine the data capabilities driving performance across PE-backed companies

On 9 October, Singulier convened a Chatham House Rule breakfast in London with Oussama Moustabchir, general manager of Graphite, its data transformation arm. Presented by Singulier managing partner, Andrew Dawson; and supported by Fleur Hicks of Hicks Global, the session assembled investors and portfolio leaders to address a question increasingly vexing boardrooms: why so many data initiatives produce dashboards rather than decisions.

Oussama Moustabchir, Graphite by SIngulier

The Execution Gap

Moustabchir’s diagnosis was blunt. Too many projects are architected around available data rather than critical decisions. This becomes particularly acute in AI and innovation initiatives, where the temptation to experiment with emerging technologies often overshadows the question of what business problem is being solved. Genuine impact emerges only when these projects directly inform specific management moments such as budget allocations, pricing reviews, and capacity planning, where they can materially shape outcomes.

The Organisational Imperative

Modern data infrastructure, he argued, now enables this shift, replacing brittle spreadsheet-based analysis with automated, adaptive models capable of addressing nuanced business questions. Yet technology alone does not determine success. The crucial variable remains organisational: small, well-matched teams pairing a data engineer versed in technical architecture with an analyst embedded in commercial realities consistently outperform larger, siloed operations. For AI projects, especially, this pairing proves essential in translating algorithmic outputs into actionable business intelligence. The distinction between leaders and laggards, he suggested, lies not in possessing a dashboard or deploying the latest machine learning model but in demonstrably improving management decisions because of it.

The breakfast yielded a pointed conclusion: technology no longer constrains transformation; clarity of purpose and accountability do. Data creates value only when it fundamentally alters how executives run their businesses.

For organisations seeking to align AI initiatives with commercial outcomes, Singulier offers AI strategy and transformation services designed to connect technology investment with executive decision-making.