It’s sad, but true. The world, as we remember it, no longer exists. Gone are the days when gut feels and executives’ opinions were the sole basis for decisions. Many things that were important in the past are gone and we rush forward with new goals, priorities, and principles. Let’s just agree with this fact.
The new world is significantly faster and data driven.
We are checking new information constantly via sources such as Gmail, BBC, Slack, WhatsApp, Twitter and even FB Messenger. The speed of life is increasing and we need to get new information ASAP. Why? So we can react immediately. Our success depends on how fast we will react on this or that occasion (time is still money!).
Of course, our decisions should not only occur quickly, but they should also be accurate enough. And in an effort to be quick, we do not have the right to make (careless) mistakes. To avoid mistakes, we need to have accurate, relevant, updated, and trusted data. So, it’s time to accept the fact that our life is controlled and managed by the data that we have.
Not convinced?
If you still think that data it is only data, then ask yourself – what is more important: data or money?
What will happen if your company loses all of its money tomorrow? I can assume that if you have a good staff and good processes in place then you will have a chance to survive. But what would happen if you lose all the information you have? Just imagine if a bank loses all of its information about customers – customer names, account numbers, how much money on these accounts have been stored. And if there is no backup, well, it becomes a sad story.
Data is more important than money these days.
The Problem
If data is so important, then you must govern it properly to avoid common problems such as:
- Users can’t find the required data
- Users can’t understand or analyze data properly because of the absence of description or context
- Users can’t trust the data they found
Think about companies that are successful with information:
Why is Google the N1? To some extent, because you can find any necessary information with its description in a few seconds.
Why is the BBC one of the most famous news outlets? Because articles on the BBC have a good structure, are easy to understand, and you can trust the information they provide.
Desire
Businesses are suffering because of the same problems every day. People want to get good data and they want to be able to trust it. And not only people who work with data want to have good data, but regulators who can have a huge impact on your business. But this is another story.
Solution
There is no silver bullet that will solve all your problems with data all at once. But there is a proven methodology that strives to put you on the track which will lead you to success. It’s data governance.
Successful data governance is based on the three pillars – people, processes, and technology. And I want to start with technology part.
There are many existing solutions but I suggest you look at a leading platform. And one of those leading solutions, according to Forrester and Gartner researchers, is the Collibra Data Governance Center.
Why is Collibra the leader? Because it is a ready-to-use data governance platform with ready-to-use business processes and an out-of-the-box data governance operating model which covers the entire lifecycle of critical data elements.
Collibra Data Governance Center will provide access to, and a common understanding of, all the data across the organization. It consists of six modules:
- Catalog, Data Dictionary – Supports the business analyst to find trusted and qualitative data sets, suited for purpose, and makes it easy to provide access to the data
- Business Glossary – Gives an enhanced way to monitor and manage the business terms and their presence in any data governance structure
- Reference Data – Provides the users with all the tools they need to manage their reference data while leveraging the communities engaged in data governance
- Policy Manager – Gives powerful assistance to observe and improve policy coverage and status
- Data Helpdesk – Supports day-to-day issue management from within Collibra as well as the implementation of strategic initiatives.
- Stewardship – Treat your steward as your most important asset
Of course, data governance means that information should be governed across the entire company and in every system. It means that we need to have very smooth and at the same tight integration. Collibra Connect makes integration with any system a lot easier, because it reduces the need to code by using an ESB with pre-written connectors to most popular applications.
In general, any system with accessible API can be integrated with Collibra Data Governance Center through Collibra Connect.
As our reliance on data continues to grow, it’s clear that governance needs to play an important part in your organization’s overall data strategy. The Collibra data governance platform provides the technology foundation for your governance program. And in future posts, we’ll dig into the other parts of data governance – people and processes.
