A data strategy is an enterprise-wide plan to harness data and analytics to achieve business goals. It assesses the current state of an organization’s data environment and capabilities, paints a realistic picture of a future data-driven state, and presents a three-year roadmap and budget to get there. The roadmap identifies required roles, resources, technology, and processes and the sequence of steps required to deliver value with data.

A data strategy is an enterprise-wide plan to harness data and analytics to achieve business goals. First, a data strategy articulates a vision for how data will transform the organization, usually in a simple, forward-looking statement. The data strategy then defines goals, metrics, use cases, risks, plans, and a three- to five-year roadmap to achieve the vision. Defining a bold future state and plans to achieve it is a critical component of a data strategy. But it’s only the start. Next, a data strategy defines the data program that will execute the strategy. Also known as a center of excellence or competency center, a data program is a permanent organization and set of ongoing initiatives supported by data specialists, data processes, and data technology. Specifically, a data program consists of a mission statement, guiding principles, stakeholders, leaders, teams, roles, committees, and funding models.