During the pandemic, DigiKey's supply chain generated endless data, but lack of shared context made it impossible to answer urgent questions about at-risk orders. Sridher makes the case for "context readiness" — preparing your data's meaning before crises demand it — and shares how DigiKey is building a Context Operating System with modern ontologies and shared business language.
Key takeaways:
Context readiness means building shared meaning and ontologies before crises demand them, not after
Waiting for business cases to justify data foundations guarantees failure when urgent questions arise
Supply chain disruptions expose the cost of teams using different definitions for basic terms like "order" and "delay"
Context Operating Systems activate shared business language across domains, turning data into decision-ready intelligence
AI readiness runs directly through context readiness — meaning must exist before models can use data reliably
