Making data our new electricity

Building the data management capabilities for an iconic global brand like Miele is a major challenge, especially in such a compliance driven area and across 50 countries. We talked to Camila Calcagno, Head of Data Governance at Miele X about how we treat data as an asset, just as much as we do brand equity. Camila is originally from Argentina and moved to Strasbourg as part of her studies. She later joined PWC as a management consultant and worked in banking for 3 years before moving to Amsterdam to join Miele X. 

Data driven digitalisation

Miele X was established in 2020 as the brand’s new global digital sales and marketing hub, responsible for shaping and driving the digital future for the brand, with data as one of the key elements within Miele’s digitization strategy.

Embodied in its Immer Besser philosophy, continually improving customer experiences is part of Miele’s DNA. Now, and in the future, this is contingent on understanding how to build and leverage its data capability.  As the customer journey is also a data journey, just as bad data can negatively impact customer experience, so can good data improve it. 

Delivering Miele’s data management framework

As Head of Data Governance, Camila is responsible for all data management practice, specifically data governance and data quality management. The objective of the role is to enable the organization to get the most value out of data as a strategic asset, ensuring that a consistent and compliant approach to data is applied organization-wide.

Camila sets the context for her role. “You have to manage data properly which is where my role adds value. I am developing a framework with the main guidelines and foundations for data management. For example, ensuring all data is high quality, increasing transparency across the organisation and making everyone aware of it, so we all treat data in the same way and speak the same language.   We have introduced foundational data principles and I work with stakeholders across the business to create our processes and procedures.

Creating the framework involved working with a wide variety of stakeholders from across the business, which Camila enjoyed. Before the framework could be built, new relationships had to be formed. Camila describes the process “I started by approaching a variety of stakeholders, understanding their responsibilities and needs.  With that organizational insight, I created the data management framework that we have in place now with all the guidance and conditions.  Now I’m working with each of the business units  to make sure we implement it in the best way for Miele. The whole approach has been highly collaborative, everyone was really open to meet and tell me about their role. We are all working together, helping each other, which reflects Miele’s culture. “

Why is data a ‘new electricity’?

Camila is clear that trust and confidence in data is essential - from both colleagues and customers - if it’s to be of any value. This accuracy and trust create data integrity that powers the business, which is where the ‘electricity’ description comes from. Her role enables the business to make the right decisions with the right data and protects the brand by doing the right things the right way.

As Camila explains, “you can have all the data that you want to have, but if it’s not compliant data or if it is data you cannot trust, because it’s not accurate, complete or inconsistent you can’t do anything with it. That is why we make sure we standardize how we treat data, how we collect and manage it so we know we can trust it, and make more efficient and better decisions which improve customer experiences and grow our business”.

So what does the future hold?

Miele places great importance on data management, with a high attention to quality, just as it does with all of its operations. “With data you have a world of opportunity, there is so much that can potentially be done, just as long as you have data that is properly governed and managed. We can create many things, bring new ideas to the market that are dynamic and customer-centric, we have a very exciting future ahead.

Why not join Camila and her team, as we create a new digital heritage for one of the world’s most trusted brands?

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