The road to data maturity is a journey, there are no quick fixes or silver bullets.  Yet this journey needn’t be arduous - which is why this issue of M Magazine, the experience issue, covers the experience of data from multiple aspects. From examining the data of a customer journey to driving decision making through innovation labs, we explore the experience of data across thresholds and from angles that others don’t consider. We are, undeniably, in the midst of a data age and the decisions that we make today as data practitioners will have a huge impact on the future.  At Mudano, we are great advocates of data being more than the sum of its parts - a roadmap is never a straight line and has many diverging paths. An organisation cannot simply ‘do’ data, at the risk of sounding somewhat zen, they must also ‘be’ data. That is, ensuring data is an integral part of how a company functions, as well as empowering employees to make decisions that are driven by data because they have the ability to make them, the motivation to make them, and are also prompted to make them. From data quality to data management, data governance to data on the cloud, everything is underpinned by a positive Data Culture.  This is because, fundamentally, the adoption of data and therefore data as a value driver will be determined as much by people and culture as it will be by technical aspects.  As we embrace the experience of data in this issue and all that this entails, and as we embark on new data journeys of our own, we look forward to the future that data can bring. Let’s build this future - today.