In the complex apparel manufacturing industry, data is only as valuable as it is usable. When I joined a global manufacturer of footwear and apparel, data was fragmented, ownership was unclear, and business units operated with inconsistent definitions, limiting their ability to make confident decisions.

To change this, I led the development of an enterprise data strategy designed to drive alignment, access, and impact. I began by engaging with senior leaders across finance, sales, and operations to understand organizational goals, including their ambition to unlock insights that cut across traditional silos. Through these conversations, I uncovered critical business questions that remained unanswered, such as forecasting future demand among key customers and assessing credit risk across the customer portfolio.

Starting with Finance as the foundation, I mapped existing data flows to identify where ownership was ambiguous and where data quality standards were lacking. From there, I defined ownership, stewardship roles, and accountability structures for Finance data, creating clarity where there had been confusion. This included teaching the finance team what these roles meant and championing their importance to ensure adoption and understanding.

Recognizing resource constraints, I sequenced initiatives realistically. I proposed launching a cross-functional data governance council as a first step to build alignment, followed by developing a structured analytics onboarding process to ensure key business questions and requests would not get lost in the cracks.

Along the way, I identified and documented risks related to data availability and quality, as well as the lack of transparency from the Technology team, which left business analytics teams unclear on key data transformations and definitions.

The real impact of this strategy was in how teams started to think differently about their work. Leaders no longer spent hours debating whose numbers were right; they focused instead on what those numbers meant for the business. Finance gained confidence in their reports, analysts stopped chasing down conflicting definitions, and conversations shifted from reconciling data to exploring new opportunities. The strategy created the trust needed for people to make better decisions, together.