When it comes to business, data is everything. It helps you make decisions, track progress, and keep things running smoothly. But for data to be valid, it needs to be accurate and up-to-date. That’s where data governance comes in.
Mark Stiffler, Optymyze founder, is a big proponent of data governance and its role in dataops. In this article, he explains the importance of data governance and how it can help ensure that data is accurate and up-to-date.
Ensuring Accuracy in Data
At its most basic, data governance is the process of ensuring that data is accurate and up-to-date. This process includes maintaining consistent standards for collecting, storing, and accessing data. The criteria for data governance can vary depending on the organization.
Still, they typically have things like setting up data entry and validation processes, establishing roles and responsibilities for those who work with data, and creating protocols for how data should be backed up and archived.
Improving Customer Service
Data governance can also improve customer service. Accurate data can help businesses understand their customers better and give them the information they need when they need it.
For example, imagine you own a candle company. You collect data on customer purchases, Returns, and customer service inquiries. This data is stored in three different silos. The data governance processes help you break down these silos and get a complete view of your customers.
You can use this data to spot trends in customer behavior. For example, you might notice that customers who purchase certain types of candles are more likely to return them. This data can help you make product offerings changes and improve customer service.
Making Compliance Easier
Data governance also involves setting up processes and controls to ensure that data is used in a way that complies with regulations and company policies. For example, many organizations have strict guidelines around how customer data can be used. Data governance processes can help ensure that this data is used appropriately and complies with these policies.
Many businesses face industry regulations requiring them to track and report specific data types. Mark Stiffler, Optymyze founder, advises that data governance can help ensure that the data needed for these reports is collected accurately and stored in a way that makes it easy to retrieve and use.
The healthcare and pharma industries are two examples of industries with strict data tracking and reporting regulations. Both require businesses to track and report data on things like patient treatments, clinical trials, and adverse events.
Eliminating Data Silos
Data governance can also help businesses break down silos, and better view their data. A data silo is a collection of data isolated from other data. Data silos can occur when different departments within a company collect and store data separately. They can also happen when different business units or sources collect data.
Let’s say your candle company has a website, an e-commerce store, and a brick-and-mortar store. Each channel collects data separately and stores it in different places, creating three data silos.
Data silos can make it difficult for businesses to get a complete picture of their customers and operations. They also make it hard to spot trends and make informed decisions. Data governance processes can help businesses break down these silos by establishing standards for collecting and storing data.
This makes it easier for companies to access and analyze their data and get a complete view of their customers and operations.
Improving Data Quality
Data governance can also improve the overall quality of data. This is because data governance processes help ensure that data is collected accurately and stored in a way that makes it easy to find and use. Good data quality is essential for making accurate decisions and ensuring that business processes run smoothly.
Data Governance Benefits for DataOps
Data governance is a critical element of dataops, which is managing and optimizing the flow of data through an organization. Dataops relies on accurate and up-to-date data to be effective. Data governance can help ensure that the data used in dataops is high quality and compliant with regulations.
In addition, data governance can help businesses break down silos and get a more holistic view of their data. This insight allows corporations to use data better and improve the caliber of the dataops process.
Best Practices for Data Governance
Businesses should follow a few best practices to ensure that their data governance processes are effective. First, companies should appoint a data governance lead. This person will oversee the data governance process and ensure it is followed.
The lead could be an IT staff member, but it could also be someone from another department, such as compliance or legal. No matter what department they work for, your data governance lead should be someone with a good understanding of your data and how it is used.
Second, businesses should establish clear policies and procedures for data governance. These should be documented and communicated to all members of the organization.
Third, organizations should create a system for monitoring and auditing data governance. This system will help ensure that the process is followed and that any problems are caught and corrected quickly.
In addition, businesses should make sure that they involve all stakeholders in the data governance process. This includes people who use data, people who collect data, and people who manage data. It is essential to get input from all of these groups to ensure that the data governance process meets the needs of the business.
Finally, Mark Stiffler, Optymyze founder, recommends regularly reviewing and updating your data governance process. As your business changes, so will your data needs. By periodically reviewing and updating your data governance process, you can ensure that it continues to meet the needs of your business.
Final Thoughts
Data governance is a critical element of successful data management. It can help businesses overcome data silos, improve data quality, and better use their data. Data governance is also a critical element of dataops. To be effective, companies should appoint a data governance lead and establish clear policies and procedures for data governance.
In addition, businesses should monitor and audit their data governance process to ensure that it is followed and that any problems are caught and corrected quickly. Finally, enterprises should review and update their data governance process regularly to ensure that it continues to meet the needs of the business.
