To strengthen the integrity of the data collected, the EY teams recommended the creation of a data governance framework comprised of two connecting layers — enterprise and studio. The recommendation proposed the enterprise set the data standards and key guiding principles, while the studios apply the governance locally to their datasets. As a result, downstream data utilization would increase, further advancing gamer innovations.
A standardized inventory of data and easily accessible analytics were also important in addressing each studio’s business needs. With a cloud-enabled agile telemetry core metrics platform and a universal data catalog, analytics and comparative benchmarking were easily accessible at the enterprise level and at each studio.
The EY teams also recommended the enterprise appoint a chief data officer (CDO) to unleash the power of its data. Aligning all data and analytic functions under one leader would allow the enterprise to gain organizational efficiencies and facilitate better teaming. And by having a seat at the leadership table, the CDO would help drive business transformations through data-driven decision-making.
“Data-led cultures established by CDOs better connect fragmented organizations,” said Faisal Alam, EY Americas Technology Solutions and Markets Leader. “Mergers and acquisitions can bring complexity around managing disparate data. While it can be incredibly challenging due to varying degrees of data maturity, the right plan can centralize and communicate data into valuable insights.”
The cornerstone that brought all the recommendations together was the establishment of squad-based resourcing — a group of people, built from multiple cross-disciplinary teams (engineers, scientists and analysts), pulled together to form a fit-for-purpose team. With a squad leader and other supporting team members, these agile teams help ensure each studio has dedicated data and analytics talent supporting game development, launch and live services. For the enterprise, this model brings key data and analytics resources under one team to increase efficiencies, streamline communications and maximize results.