Paul Ballew, CDAO at NFL Properties LLC, speaks with Jack Berkowitz, Chief Data Officer at Securiti, in a video interview about the CDAO role, managing organizational expectations, the importance of being aligned with the business, and the persistent governance challenges.

National Football League Properties, also known as NFL Properties (abbreviated NFLP), is the merchandising and licensing arm of the National Football League (NFL). The subsidiary of the league was founded in 1963 to maintain control of the brands of the league and its franchises and to license and negotiate with vendors to create official NFL merchandise.

Reflecting on his professional journey spanning four decades, Ballew notes that the core mission remains largely unchanged — helping businesses make better decisions. This includes answering more meaningful questions, providing better insights, optimizing operations, and connecting with customers.

Adding on, he says, that the perception of the role has changed. While earlier data and analytics leaders were often seen as external advisors, today there is a stronger belief in their value as integral participants in the decision-making process.

The evolution of the role within organizations has translated to having a seat at the table, he adds. This shift is evident in the rise of the profession and the growth of specialized roles, but it reflects that the universe has accepted the fact that data and analytics are indispensable for optimizing business performance and building meaningful customer connections.

Shedding light on managing expectations and other constituents, Ballew shares that a fascinating aspect of this career is the need to operate with a unique organism. Recalling the time spent in the automotive industry, he mentions navigating relationships with dealers while also addressing siloed organizational structures.

At the NFL, says Ballew, the dynamic is taken to another level, where he works with 32 clubs, each functioning as an independent entity that collectively forms a league. The role here is to support these clubs, help them thrive, and ensure the league’s overall integrity and success.

Layered onto this are sponsors, partners, and a myriad of other stakeholders, says Ballew. To be successful, one must have an understanding of the unique organism one works within, along with delivering value and aligning with the capabilities it seeks to leverage. He advises his peers in the field to realize that they operate in a functional system that they have to be a part of and help by providing value.

Moving forward, Ballew discusses the importance of being connected to business. He says that becoming a trusted advisor requires not only tech expertise but also a solid understanding of business.

Mentioning his long tenure at General Motors, Ballew shares how the advisors were involved in every aspect of the company, and it stemmed from a deep business understanding. This fostered a level of trust that made them stand out to be seen as advisors who were there to help.

Therefore, when stepping into a function, it is critical to invest time in understanding business like one would to understand the tech stack, data environment, team, or skill levels. Also, he stresses grasping the culture of the business, as the business culture in a digital native organization would be different compared to that of a legacy retailer or a financial services firm.

Highlighting the challenges, Ballew states that apart from staying aligned with regulatory issues and consequential decisions, the biggest challenge over decades has been navigating moments of technological inflection.

These include pivotal times like the late 1990s when the Internet became a tool for transactional e-commerce, 2005–2006 with the advent of smartphones, which elevated that to a new level, and about a decade ago when transactional data was harnessed at scale.

The core issue has been the balancing act between democratizing access to capabilities and ensuring solid governance. It is like squeezing jello, he says, where too much control and governance can stifle innovation, while too little can lead to chaos.

For example, during the rise of e-commerce in the late 1990s, every department wanted to create its own website, landing pages, and digital initiatives, says Ballew. Organizations scrambled to set up dedicated digital and e-commerce units, only to dismantle and reintegrate them back into the business a few years later. Unfortunately, for some, it took over a decade to figure this out fully, he adds.

While at every stage technology exists to optimize and better understand the business, the opportunities come bearing risks, whether they are legal, reputational, or financial. If these are not managed properly, it could lead to brand damage.

For a data and analytics organization, comprehensive data governance is critical, says Ballew. He maintains that generative AI is not new; the foundational models and science behind it have existed for years, but the key limiter was data.

Taking the instance of commercialization of Watson, he states that the cost-effective ingestion and curation of data presented a challenge that Watson couldn’t overcome during its commercialization phase.

In conclusion, Ballew states that now organizations are better equipped to manage data at scale. He encourages people to look at the previous points of inflection to gain valuable insights.

CDO Magazine appreciates Paul Ballew for sharing his insights with our global community.