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Kantar
Benefits of Our Transformation
A global finance data strategy to create a single source of truth—strengthening governance, master data management and reporting across a complex international organisation.
About Kantar
Kantar is a global data, insights and consulting business operating across multiple countries and systems. Following years of acquisition-led growth and separation from WPP, Kantar needed a stronger and more consistent approach to finance data, governance and reporting at group level.
Results That
Matter
$3.5bn
Revenue scale supported
Federated global model
Governance model
4
Core strategy pillars
Single source of truth
Target outcome
The Opportunity
Kantar’s finance data environment had become complex and inconsistent across regions—creating multiple versions of the truth, unclear ownership, and limited ability to understand business drivers at the level of granularity required. As a $3.5bn revenue business, timely, reliable and meaningful financial data was essential to improving control and enabling growth.
Solutions Delivered
Beyond developed a structured finance data strategy and operating model for Kantar, defining the governance, master data and data infrastructure foundations required to deliver consistent reporting, better decision-making and scalable global working practices.
Diagnosed the root causes of fragmented reporting and inconsistent data structures across systems and geographies, including gaps in data quality, ownership and governance
Defined Kantar’s finance data vision and guiding principles to drive consistency, control, structure, governance and simplicity across the global organisation
Designed a federated Finance Data Governance model balancing central oversight with division-level execution and accountability
Defined clear ownership roles and responsibilities (Strategic Data Executives, Tactical Data Owners, Operational Data Stewards) supported by a Data Governance Office
Established a practical approach for data quality management including profiling, rule definition, issue resolution workflows and governance KPIs
Recommended a global Master Data Management (MDM) strategy including an MDM Centre of Excellence and decisioning governance to standardise critical finance master data
Set out a future-state data infrastructure approach to consolidate data into a trusted golden record, enabling a Finance Data Mart and improved reporting and analytics
Defined a target operating model for finance reporting to improve collaboration, reduce duplication, and shift teams from reactive delivery to proactive value creation
Results & Impact
Kantar gained a clear and actionable blueprint for improving finance data quality, governance and reporting, enabling a single source of truth, stronger global control, and a scalable model for decision-making and performance insight.
Lesson Learned
Finance data transformation succeeds when governance, ownership and operating model design are treated as core enablers, not afterthoughts. Clear accountability and standard definitions are essential to reduce manual effort, prevent “multiple truths”, and unlock meaningful insight at scale.
“Beyond brought clarity and structure to a complex global finance data landscape. The strategy created a practical path to improve data quality, define ownership, and establish the foundations for consistent reporting and better decision-making across Kantar.”
Global Finance Stakeholder, Kantar
