But unlocking the value of data isn’t always a straightforward undertaking. Effective data management and data governance programmes are key in leveraging the full potential of your data because they streamline and strengthen the process of extracting insights.
In the financial services industry, just over one-third (37 percent) of firms have fully operational programmes, while 43 percent are still in the process of making their programmes operational. This shows that while there is an understanding of the importance of data governance, there is still some lag in implementation and that needs to change.
The insights from data can address many industry problems, but ensuring that organisations create sustainable systems for the backbone of technology change comes down to applying greater data governance.
Data governance explained
Data governance focuses on establishing the policies, controls, procedures and standards needed to cultivate a “data control environment” that successfully harmonises data. Without this, organisations will struggle to unravel interconnections, manage complexity and understand the true nature of information across data points.
The benefits of data governance
- Ensuring data quality and reliability
With documented policies and standards, strong governance models reduce data duplication and errors to ensure quality. This also reduces the likelihood of errors and the associated costs of those.
- Solving analysis and reporting issues.
When you don’t have proper data governance in place, there is confusion around what metrics mean, what data should be collected and what insights are gleaned. Setting up robust data governance will align your tools and reporting with your goals, eliminating the potential for decisions to be made based on false readings.
Digital consultancy, Infinitive, highlights ‘greater clarity’ as the major outcome of proper data governance.
“Greater clarity means more confidence in data-driven decisions. As a result of having greater confidence, you can increase the speed with which you can make data-related decisions and choices.”
