The symptoms were structural, not cosmetic
For a decade, ASICS' Global Digital Asset Management platform had no dedicated owner. Ownership sat, by default, with a regional IT function on the other side of the world from most of the people who depended on the system daily, and the roadmap had been paused for lack of anyone to run it.
There was no RACI, no agreed definition of when work was "ready" or "done," and no documented way of working, so every handover and every audit started from scratch. Vendor contracts and the underlying cost structure were unclear enough that spend happened without a clear line back to value.
Nobody could say, with data, whether the platform was actually working for the people who used it: no KPIs, no satisfaction baseline, no shared vision of what "better" would even look like.
An early product assessment described the situation as the eye of a storm: quiet as long as nothing changed, but the moment anyone tried to improve or scale the platform, every one of these gaps turned into a blocker.
Sequenced in the order the risk demanded
Rather than treating this as one fix, the work ran in five steps: govern, own, measure, prove, decide.
Governance first
Before anything else could scale safely, DAM needed an operating model: a published RACI, an agreed Definition of Ready and Done, a regular working cadence, and clarity on who owned which vendor contract and which line of the budget.
Ownership, formalized
The product team took full operational ownership of the DAM API and the automated image feed that had previously sat, unmanaged, with the outgoing IT function: security, access, release management, and consumer-facing documentation for every dependent partner and system.
A way to measure value
A structured North Star framework built around four pillars, backed by a full satisfaction survey across every major user group: Content, Marketing, Ecommerce, Product, Sales, Category Management, IT and Program teams.
Proof it could deliver
In parallel, the team shipped a global image-display fix, correcting a systemic left/right-facing footwear imagery gap across every region and every downstream retail channel, and unblocked a related commercial-policy initiative. Evidence that the operating model was not just paperwork.
A long-term answer, not a patch
With the foundations in place, the team built the evidence base and ran a full vendor selection to decide whether the next chapter is on the current platform or a new one: market research, a shortlist, a formal tender, and structured evaluation and scoring.
Four pillars carry the North Star
Fast and easy to use
Whether the people who depend on the platform daily can find and use an asset without help.
Secure
Embargoed and unreleased imagery stays inside the access rules, in delivery as well as in storage.
Seamless
One managed origin feeding every downstream channel, instead of duplicate copies re-uploaded by hand.
Demonstrably valuable
Spend, vendor contracts and roadmap choices all trace back to a business outcome.
The satisfaction survey showed a platform that was functionally relied upon but not loved: the majority of users were neutral rather than satisfied, and only a minority felt the platform met most of their needs. That data now drives every subsequent decision, including the vendor evaluation criteria.
One managed origin, one accountable team
A documented operating model
RACI, Definition of Ready and Done, working cadence, and named ownership of every vendor contract and budget line. Active and in use.
Ownership of the API and image feed
Security, access, release management and consumer-facing documentation, all in one team instead of spread across a handover.
A tender that answers the platform question
Market research, requirements package, shortlist, clarification round, and a structured scoring model, replacing what had previously been a fragmented, manually re-uploaded model in several channels.
Product ownership, plus the domain knowledge to prove it
Governance on its own does not ship anything. The same team that wrote the operating model also fixed the imagery in every region, which is why the model was trusted.
North Star framework
Four pillars, KPIs per pillar, and a satisfaction baseline across eight user groups.
Structured vendor selection
Market research, formal tender, shortlist, evaluation and scoring, run under the same rigour now built into how the product operates.
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