Global Chief Data Officer, Marco Vernocchi, reflects on the transformation journey at one of the world’s largest professional services organisations.
“Data is pervasive, it’s everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It’s not a physical asset, but it’s a part of every business activity every day. I joined EY in 2019 as the first Global Chief Data Officer. Our vision was to recognise data as a strategic competitive asset for the organisation. Through the efforts of leadership and the Data Office team, we’ve elevated it from a commodity utility to an asset. Furthermore, our formal strategy defined with clarity the purpose, scope, goals and timeline of how we manage data across EY. Bringing it to the centre of what we do has created a competitive asset that is transforming the way we work.”
The Journey to becoming a data-driven company
“We began our transformation by building four foundational capabilities in data,” explains Vernocchi. “Now that we have these in place, we are focusing on market channels, our EY business partners. They could be Assurance, Tax, Consulting or Strategy and Transactions. These could be strategic areas of focus, such as Sustainability. Or they could be industry sectors. Also, it’s these groups that are our internal customers; my team doesn’t have a go-to market responsibility.”
With those internal needs in mind, Vernocchi has orchestrated his data strategy around four data capabilities:
- Enterprise Data Management – data managed holistically across EY; including data modelling, governance, quality, sourcing and master data management
- Trust Services – policies and streamlining compliance with internal and external regulation, where EY works closely with its legal, risk and other policy groups
- EY Trusted Data Fabric – combines data architecture, tools and products to keep EY on the frontier of technology advancement
- Next Generation Data Services – encompasses new ways to create value for the business and support innovation
Data is the connective fabric
“You cannot do business in the modern world without technology,” reasons Vernocchi. “Business, data and technology are a trio, you need to combine them consistently. Therefore, it’s important for the EY Trusted Data Fabric to be the holistic architecture, enabling us to share and reuse permissible data across the organisation and to innovate. Priorities and technology choices must be aligned to be able to scale investments and create value.”
Future focused
With its approach on embedding trust and permission into data, EY is now experiencing a growing standardisation and reusability across the services it offers. “If we manage that reusability across solutions, we provide more advanced quality and value from data, and improve the way we deliver services,” reasons Vernocchi. “Moreover, this idea of sharing trusted data across the organisation is the next frontier because it will give us the ability to transform from a traditional, transaction-led approach, into a data-driven company. Shaping the future with confidence is our ambition.”
