Case Study

Assembling data clarity: How a $15B appliance manufacturer turned fragmented data into connected home innovation

The short version

Challenge:

A $15B global appliance manufacturer struggled with fragmented data across 15+ systems, preventing unified views of products, customers, and the supply chain. This hindered innovation, decision-making, and competitive positioning in the connected home market.

Solution:

DataCatalyst deployed our Accelerate methodology to develop a comprehensive data strategy, governance structure, and implementation roadmap that aligned their data ecosystem with business objectives.

Results:

The manufacturer achieved improved data quality, reduced manual processes, faster time-to-market, enhanced regulatory compliance, and accelerated innovation capabilities – all within a condensed timeframe that delivered rapid business value.

The challenge: The data-constrained innovator

A $15B global appliance manufacturer with ambitious growth plans found itself at a competitive crossroads. Operating in the rapidly evolving connected home market, the company possessed the vision and resources for innovation but faced a critical barrier: its data infrastructure couldn’t support its strategic goals.

The company operated with siloed data across product, supplier, and customer domains, which was utilized by over 15 regional ERPs and legacy systems. They had confusing and non-cohesive product lines without the ability to manage inheritance from a product/variant product family taxonomy.

Customer identification was equally problematic – they didn’t know who they were shipping to, especially when retailers owned other retailers (e.g., Lowes and Rona). Ship-To and Bill-To information was confused, resulting in the wrong models being shipped to the wrong customers.

Digital assets were another critical issue: they weren’t sending the best hero images and enhanced content to customers because they didn’t know who was who. This fragmentation created systemic inefficiencies that directly impacted their ability to innovate and scale operations effectively.

The need: Breaking down data barriers

The manufacturer needed a comprehensive data strategy that would align their fragmented ecosystem with their strategic goals of scalability, connected home leadership, and regulatory agility.

Without a unified view of products, supply chain, and customers, the company couldn’t make informed decisions, drive innovation, or respond quickly to market and regulatory changes. They required a clear roadmap to break down data silos and establish proper governance across their organization.

After attempting to solve their data challenges through internal IT initiatives and siloed approaches that  lacked business alignment and failed to address the enterprise-wide nature of the problem, the manufacturer recognized they needed specialized expertise.

The approach: Enterprise-wide collaboration

DataCatalyst conducted multiple workshops with over 80 stakeholders across both business and technology personnel. This collaborative process, guided by our team of specialized experts, took the client through a thorough assessment of their current state and created a vision of an ideal future state. This armed them with an understanding of the full scope of their data challenges and the strategic opportunities that could be unlocked through proper data management and governance.

The solution: Joined-up data strategy

DataCatalyst applied our proprietary Accelerate methodology to rapidly develop a comprehensive data strategy tailored to the manufacturer’s specific needs:

  1. A data governance structure with clear ownership, quality rules, and workflows
  2. A target architecture with a detailed migration plan
  3. A roadmap with prioritized data domains and layered MDM implementation stages

Our unique blend of business and technical expertise, combined with our efficient Accelerate approach, enabled us to design a solution that delivered fast time-to-value while addressing both immediate pain points and long-term strategic objectives.

The transformation: Enterprise-wide perspective

Implementing the data strategy required significant shifts in the organization’s approach to data:

  • Moving from a siloed, department-centric view to an enterprise-wide perspective
  • Establishing new governance processes with clear data ownership and stewardship
  • Developing new skills and capabilities to manage and leverage the new data architecture
  • Overcoming resistance to change and organizational politics around data ownership

The project demanded alignment across multiple regional business units and IT systems, requiring a cultural transformation in how the organization viewed and worked with data as a strategic asset.

The results: Quality, speed, consistency

The implementation of the data strategy delivered significant business outcomes:

  • Improved data quality and consistency across product, supplier, and customer domains
  • Proper product/variant taxonomy management enabling cohesive product lines
  • Resolved customer identification issues, reducing shipping errors to the wrong customers
  • Enhanced digital asset management, distributing optimal hero images and content reaches the right customers
  • Reduced manual processes and reconciliation steps
  • Better decision-making capabilities through more accessible and reliable data

The future: Data-driven competitive advantage

The new data strategy positioned the manufacturer for lasting transformation:

  • Accelerated innovation in connected home products through better integration of product and customer data
  • Enhanced ability to meet regulatory requirements through better data governance
  • Faster time-to-market for new products through streamlined data flows
  • More efficient scaling of operations through enhanced data management and data governance technology
  • Better decision-making capabilities through more accessible and reliable data
  • Sustainable competitive advantage through strategic use of data assets

The manufacturer now has the data foundation needed to achieve its strategic ambitions in the connected home market and beyond. DataCatalyst’s Accelerate methodology ensured this transformation was accomplished efficiently, delivering rapid business value that continues to compound over time.