Advantage Solutions operates at the intersection of brands, retailers, and consumers, helping some of the world’s largest CPG organizations execute across sales, marketing, retail operations, digital commerce, and analytics. As the company continues to modernize how it measures performance and drives value in-store, the ability to define enterprise-wide metrics, enforce trusted governance, and accelerate decision-making has become central to scaling both data and AI outcomes.

In Part 1 of this three-part series, Jo O’Hazo, Chief Data Officer at Advantage Solutions, emphasized that data transformation is people-led, built through compounding “micro wins,” and grounded in trust that starts with listening. She also noted that AI is exposing gaps in data foundations, making governance, security, accuracy, and compliance essential to scaling reliable AI outcomes.

In this second installment, O’Hazo continues her conversation with Nathan Turajski, Sr. Director of Product Marketing at Informatica, focusing on how organizations define measurable success in data programs, why trust and shared language matter as much as KPIs, and how compliance and ethics become the backbone of speed, rather than the barrier to it.

Measuring data and AI governance effectiveness

When asked how she demonstrates success across data and AI governance initiatives, O’Hazo begins by acknowledging a challenge that many enterprises face: the definition of success isn’t fixed. “Defining key metrics sometimes serves as a bit of a challenge. And they change over time.”

For O’Hazo, the goal is to move beyond siloed measurements and toward metrics that reflect how functions work together. She points to the value of integrated KPIs that can connect performance in one part of the organization to outcomes in another.

“So those KPIs are hardcore measurements, and in a perfect world, they wouldn’t just solely focus on one function but would start to integrate across those functions of your organization.”

She offers an example that ties headquarters sales performance to retail execution performance, two areas that, when measured together, can reveal clearer revenue opportunities and drive different actions.

This integrated lens helps shift KPIs from static reporting to dynamic business levers, ones that can change behaviors, shape priorities, and accelerate outcomes across the value chain.

The hidden KPI: Are stakeholders speaking your language?

O’Hazo then draws a line between measurement and transformation. Success in data programs, she explains, is not only about performance indicators; it is also about whether the organization is starting to internalize the mindset behind them.

“Success for me in this data and AI space is all about, ‘Are my stakeholders starting to actually speak some of my language?’”

When stakeholders begin to “believe” and “trust,” she says, the shift becomes visible not only in outcomes but also in demand. The moment data starts becoming embedded in the business is the moment the need for the CDO office outgrows its capacity.

“Have they started to believe? Have they started to trust? You start to see how the demand for your services as a CDO starts to become much greater than your ability, your capacity to deliver on them.” That moment, for her, is the signal that the organization is truly leaning in.

Being data-driven is not a buzzword

O’Hazo also pushes back on superficial interpretations of “data-driven.” Simply using data is not enough if the process is slow, inaccurate, or overly manual. “Just relying on data alone doesn’t make you data driven.”

She ties true data-driven maturity to operational efficiency and responsiveness:

• Accurate, timely information
• Faster decision-making cycles
• Quicker reactions to market conditions
• Lower effort to extract value from data

In her view, strong data foundations should reduce friction instead of creating new burdens. Speed, however, is not just about moving fast, it’s about winning the race to insight.

“Once you have that foundation built, to get to the answer quickly, you have to be the first one there. If you’re not the first one there, you’ve lost.”

Why compliance and ethics are foundational to AI innovation

Turajski extends the discussion into ethics and compliance, noting that the drive to innovate often collides with the risks tied to data, policies, and AI outcomes. For O’Hazo, certain requirements are non-negotiable: “At the end of the day, ethics, compliance, and security, those are all rooted at the core of your data foundation.” And from that core, governance extends outward into every data product including AI.

Speed can take you off a cliff

One of the hardest tensions, O’Hazo says, arises when business partners demand speed. She doesn’t reject the need for velocity but warns against what speed can do when accuracy is weak.

“Speed requires a certain level of capability that is trustworthy in that data foundation.” She adds a blunt reminder: urgency without discipline is dangerous. “Remember, speed can also take you off a cliff.”

The real objective, O’Hazo says, is “speed with accuracy,” supported by compliance that is already built into the core, not retrofitted later.

If the core is strong, scale becomes easier. Trust becomes reusable. And delivery becomes faster.

Building a safe environment for governed innovation

As the conversation returns to the governance part of transformation, O’Hazo underscores that governance becomes sustainable only when people are comfortable using data and confident enough to surface risks early.

For her, the true differentiator is not policy; it is talent and environment. The teams who work together to build governed, secure, compliant data are the ones who enable business partners to innovate without fear.

“Whenever I’ve looked at the talent and the teams and tried to create those magic fireworks of talent working together, that’s where the value is because they’re the ones who are going to help you guide your business partners on how to create success through compiled, secure, governed data that’s at the core.”

That environment, she notes, must feel safe.

“We all are best in an environment where we feel that it is safe to take risks where it’s appropriate and measured, but understanding that at the end of the day, those non-negotiables are all in place.”

CDO Magazine appreciates Jo O’Hazo for continuing to share her leadership insights with our global community.