If the Data Is Suspect, So Is Everything You're Doing After It — GE Aerospace VP - Digital Technology Lean and Data Transformation

(US & Canada) Maureen Butler, VP - Digital Technology Lean and Data Transformation at GE Aerospace, speaks with Channie Mize, General Manager at Slalom, in a video interview about her role, the importance of data quality, and how organizations can treat data as an asset.

Butler, who has been with GE Aerospace for about three years, plays a key role in leading lean transformation within the company’s digital technology division. She is responsible for establishing enterprise data management as a foundational capability across the organization.

With a career deeply rooted in transformation, Butler says that she has transitioned through various roles, including P&L management, general management, and acquisition integrations, all centered around driving major change initiatives. At GE Aerospace, her work focuses on aligning people, processes, data, and technology to drive impactful organizational transformation and ensure executive buy-in for enterprise data management.

Speaking about the critical importance of data quality, Butler cites the role of master data in driving processes, transactions, reporting, and analytics within an organization. If data quality is compromised at any point in its lifecycle—whether in a system or application—processes can break, transactions may encounter issues, and customer service or reporting could be negatively affected.

Adding, Butter says that organizations often fail to recognize that poor data quality is a major contributor to process failures. It’s essential to help organizations understand the types of data they handle and the need to maintain trusted data throughout their processes and systems.

Speaking about deriving value from the data and leveraging technologies like generative AI, Butler emphasizes the importance of ensuring high-quality, trusted data as a foundational element. She explains that whether data flows through ERP, CRM, product management, or reporting systems, its reliability is crucial. If the data is flawed, any insights or intelligence generated by AI will be unreliable. Further, combining internal data with external sources can become inefficient and problematic without a strong data foundation.

When asked about the ideal approach to treating data as an asset, Butler explains that when building enterprise data management capabilities in large organizations like GE Aerospace, it is crucial to have data recognized as a strategic priority at the CEO level. She emphasizes that if the senior leadership doesn’t champion the idea of treating data as an asset, it becomes difficult to secure the necessary investment and organizational buy-in.

Successful transformation requires this support, as enterprise data management involves new skills, capabilities, and a cultural shift, all of which need to align with the CEO’s and CFO’s broader priorities.

Butler further shares that her experience in GEAerospace made it clear that data issues were widespread. The company had attempted to establish data management, but much of it was happening informally. This is something she's observed in many other organizations, where data management efforts often remain at the grassroots level without strong leadership support.

To shift this dynamic, Butler emphasizes the importance of educating leaders across all levels to ask whether the data they’re relying on is trusted and comes from reliable sources. She noticed that terms like "source of truth" were frequently used but questioned if the organization had actual systems in place to measure, monitor, and certify data quality.

Butler stresses the need for investments in data quality and management tools, along with appointing business data stewards and building their capabilities. She says that until organizations are trained to clean, standardize, and monitor their data effectively, any ambition around AI or large investments like ERP implementations will be hindered by poor data quality. 

In conclusion, Butler sees data management as foundational to any transformation, including exciting innovations like AI.

CDO Magazine appreciates Maureen Butler for sharing her insights with our global community.