Data Governance Gone Wild

While the art and science of data governance is nothing new, organizations in the era of big data are finding themselves facing some unprecedented challenges. Some argue that not adapting to new needs could cost companies big money, not to mention their precious data.

This is an argument that Jill Dyché, VP for Best Practices at SAS made recently in a talk at the most recent CIO Insurance Summit.  According to Dyché, Data governance is a piece of the puzzle that is being overlooked in organizations as they begin to move their organizations into the big data era.

Undefined data governance is a problem that is creating backlash, says Dyché, as organizations begin to have conversations about big data strategies such as sentiment analysis, when their front level sales people don’t have fundamental capabilities that let them interact with customers in real time. “I still can’t see the number of different products and policies a customer has on one screen, and we’re talking about Facebook APIs,” complained a business manager, said Dyché.

Getting data governance right is important because a company’s understanding of the customer is only as good as the system that generated that customer’s information, comments Dyché. “The challenge and barrier for the [sales front line] is that their conversations with the customer are only as relevant as that data source’s richness.”

Data governance is the organizing framework for establishing strategy, objectives, and policies for corporate data, says Dyché in defining the missing piece. “Think of it as the business defining the business rules, the guiding principles, and the definitions of data,” she explains, “and IT executing those policies – coming together through data stewardship to align the conversations [around data management].”

“We’ve seen multiple times that the wrong people – often the people in IT who are well meaning and have no other choice are making decisions on data in a vacuum because the business isn’t participating in that dialogue,” said Dyché.  The IT people, not the business people, become the de facto data experts on behalf of the company.  “If those people get hit by a bus – if they win the lottery – what happens?”

Data governance is becoming increasingly important as big data grows up, but Dyché cautions that organizations shouldn’t be hasty when considering the challenge. “There are a lot of moving parts in data governance that we have to take into account,” says Dyché. “It’s not just a kickoff and cold cuts and let’s call a meeting and get everybody in a room to complain about data.  There are processes and workflow involved.”

Dyché commented on a good place to start this process in an earlier article. “Executives would do well to get out in front of big data efforts and clarify roles. Conducting an inventory of data professionals and their responsibilities is an effective first step in establishing clarity and decision rights.”

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