The Digital Transformation Playbook: Rethink Your Business for the Digital Age

partly a matter of where the data is warehoused but also where the data 
scientists are. Should each business unit have its own analytics team so it 
is closer to local decision making? Or should one central analytics unit 
service the key data needs of every part of the business? As large organi-
zations mature in terms of their data capability, they seem to be central-
izing analytics while striving to raise the data savvy of managers in each 
business unit.

---

120
T U R N D A T A I N T O A S S E T S
Sharing Data With Partners
Data sharing is critical not only within an organization; it is becoming a key 
element of negotiations with business partners. Contracts and deals of all 
kinds are no longer just about who pays what to whom but what data will 
be shared as well. This sharing is particularly important for businesses that 
don’t own the ultimate point of sale for their products.
Industrial equipment manufacturer Caterpillar now requires its 189 
dealers to enter into data-sharing agreements; in return, it provides them 
with benchmarks and tools to improve their own sales efficiency and with 
customer leads generated from Caterpillar’s Web analytics.
25
Ann Mukherjee, chief marketing officer of Frito-Lay, is able to measure 
the impact of all kinds of innovative digital marketing for popular brands 
like Doritos and Lay’s, but this measurement is possible only due to part-
nerships with key retailers. “Retailers are unbelievable sources of analytical 
understanding,” and the ability to partner with them around data and mea-
surement is critical to building store traffic and product sales.
26
As data becomes more essential to business strategy, data sharing will 
become a key element of every important business partnership with suppli-
ers, distributors, media channels, and more.
Cybersecurity, Privacy, and Consumer Attitudes
As businesses gather and utilize more and more data, particularly customer 
data, they also bring on additional security risks. Cyberthreats that used to 
be the concern of CIOs are going to be front and center for senior leader-
ship now. When Target suffered a huge data breach in 2013, with 40 million 
customer credit cards stolen, it was not just an IT problem but also a brand 
reputation issue. Sales at the retailer slumped as consumers stayed away 
during the holiday shopping season, and the CEO was forced to step down 
a few months later. Since then, we have seen subsequent massive consumer 
data theft (Anthem), data attacks as a means of corporate warfare (Sony 
Pictures and Ashley Madison), and data hacks as government espionage 
(the U.S. Office of Personnel Management). Sony Pictures CEO Michael 
Lynton said in the aftermath of its own high-profile hack, “If there’s a silver 
lining, it’s that this was a call for America to wake up and pay attention. This 
is going to happen—in fact, it already is happening, on a regular basis.”
27

---

T U R N D A T A I N T O A S S E T S

121