Increasingly, companies are falling foul of poor data governance and data management. Not just in the form of high profile hacks, but also fiascos like TSB’s online and mobile banking crisis. Organisations that fail to govern data well are setting themselves up for failure. Good data governance underpins every other data function and is critical for gaining trust in data. Without that, data projects will fail, results will be second-guessed, artificial intelligence models might be trained with incorrect data and ultimately the data strategy will be undermined.
Data governance is not static either. It is always evolving according to business and industry needs – a good data governance strategy will reflect this by being agile and responsive to change. There are new challenges posed by the rise of real-time data and the Internet of Things (IoT), and new requirements from legislation such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Today’s technology and data leaders must respond to these, as well as manage current-day challenges surrounding data governance.
Effective data governance is a cross-disciplinary activity, not just the remit of a Chief Technology Officer, a Chief Information Officer or Chief Data Officer. Futureproofing data governance and data management is a cross-team endeavour.
