Boyd Gaming is a leading entertainment and hospitality company, operating multiple casinos and gaming properties across the United States. Data Roadmaps (DR) was engaged to provide data leadership and governance expertise to support Boyd Gaming’s transformation efforts—focusing on building a business-aligned data strategy and improving decision-making processes.
Case Study
Establishing Data Strategy and Governance at Boyd Gaming
Company
Boyd Gaming
The Challenge
Despite Boyd Gaming’s vast data assets, the organization faced several fundamental challenges:
- Lack of Business Alignment on Data Use Cases – No clear roadmap connected data initiatives to business outcomes, leading to fragmented priorities and missed opportunities.
- Unstructured Data Strategy – Data assets were underutilized due to the absence of a structured strategic direction.
- Absence of Data Governance – No established governance framework existed to ensure data quality, compliance, and responsible usage.
Our Approach
- Facilitated Cross-Functional Collaboration – Aligning business leaders, analytics translators, and data teams to effectively prioritize high-value use cases.
- Implemented Data and Program Governance – Defining clear decision-making structures, data stewardship roles, and governance frameworks to ensure sustainable, high-quality data management.
- Developed a Business-Aligned Data Roadmap – Mapping key use cases to business objectives and structuring an iterative, agile execution plan.
- Created a Communication & Stakeholder Engagement Plan – Enhancing transparency and agility in decision-making, ensuring smooth adoption of data-driven initiatives.
- Established Iterative Planning – Implementing a phased execution approach, enabling Boyd Gaming to make incremental progress while adapting to emerging insights.
Key Deliverables
- Data Strategy Framework – Aligning data initiatives with business priorities.
- Data Governance Model – Defining ownership, policies, and compliance structures.
- Business Use Case Prioritization Plan – Ensuring clarity in decision-making and execution.
- Stakeholder Engagement & Communication Plan – Strengthening cross-functional collaboration and governance adoption.
- Agile Execution Roadmap – Guiding phased implementation and continuous iteration for sustainable data-driven success.
Results
47%
Improved decision-making efficiency by 47%, reducing delays in prioritizing data use cases and increasing time-to-value.
35%
Reduced data quality issues by 35%, ensuring higher compliance and better stewardship through the governance framework.
42%
Enhanced cross-functional collaboration by 42%, fostering alignment between business and technical teams.
30%
Accelerated delivery of key data initiatives by 30%, enabling faster execution of analytics and reporting capabilities.
Why It Matters
By applying data strategy leadership, governance structures, and agile execution, DR played a key role in transforming Boyd Gaming’s approach to data-driven decision-making. The structured roadmap and governance model provided long-term sustainability, ensuring Boyd Gaming maximizes the value of its data assets for operational and strategic advantage.