Toward the implementation of a consensual maturity model for big data in consumer goods companies

This paper presents the Consensual Big Data Maturity Assessment System (CBDAS) implementation in a multinational company leader in the Consumer Goods sector. The business case illustrates the objective and the approach which has been taken with the CBDAS initiative. The paper aims to justify the assessment system as a dynamic and flexible system for enterprises operating in the Consumer Good sector. It can be leveraged to understand the maturity stage in the big data domain and guide organizations about their status of advancement in proposing successful big data initiatives. Some results of the first cycle of evaluation by the Senior Managers and IT decision-makers of Procter & Gamble Company are pinpointed to illustrate the advantages and the exchange of good practices following the evaluation. The paper introduces the CBDAS initiative, implemented on a web application, organized in eight business-relevant domains, comprehensively covering all aspects impacting big data initiatives' success. The assessment contains weights to evaluate the corresponding relevance of a certain domain within the organization's reality. Company data activities generate value in synergy with other assets. Therefore, to estimate whether it is a priority to intervene, i.e., on the technologies, data strategies, or organizational culture, we isolate the processes and flows deriving from data initiatives in the company, mapping two exemplary processes to intercept priority actions of intervention. Therefore, by determining the type of interventions on processes and maturity levels in each data maturity domain, we derived concrete actions to bridge the existing maturity gap in higher priority areas.