Compliance as the main driver of data governance

According to the new Barc study, compliance is the most commonly cited driver for data governance initiatives, with clear regional differences identified (Europe: 64 percent, North America: 48 percent, Asia-Pacific: 30 percent).

It seems that the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is having an impact and driving companies to implement data governance, especially in the European region.

However, Timm Grosser, senior analyst at Barc and co-author of the study, warns against introducing data governance simply to comply with legal regulations.

Such an approach is associated with the risk of reducing data governance to restrictive processes:

"Companies definitely underestimate the enormous potential here in terms of the quality of data.

A well-defined data governance process helps to bring the views of data collectors and data consumers closer together, contributing to better data quality overall.

We regularly observe that companies do not perceive the real added value of data governance, which goes far beyond compliance with rules"

says Grosser.

Priorities in Data Governance

Best practices in the area of data governance are still a rarity. At least there is widespread agreement on the following aspect: there is no shortage of currently available technologies.

Companies that are in the process of planning data governance tend to focus more on administrative activities. This is made clear by the fact that their most important measure is currently the development of a data catalog, closely followed by the establishment of new roles and processes.

Companies that have already established data governance, on the other hand, tend to focus on practical implementation such as data quality monitoring and internal training.

"This is how business requirements are generated"

says Grosser.

"Making users aware of and challenged by data governance issues is a promising approach because it addresses the most common challenges."

Added value of data governance

The majority of organizations (53 percent) report that decision-making processes have improved and a common understanding of data has been achieved after establishing data governance.

Governance measures also help to create optimal conditions for data-driven work and pave the way for the digital enterprise (47 percent).

"Data governance enables more effective and at the same time more efficient use of data. A unified understanding of data can elevate effectiveness to a higher and more strategically relevant level in the enterprise and help drive the process of digitalization"

says Grosser.

"At the same time, however, if the approaches and initiatives take place predominantly in the data warehouse, the expected benefits will remain limited.

Actual added value for the company is ultimately achieved through implementation in the core processes."

The reasons for this are remarkable: Previous attempts to improve data quality have largely failed due to organizational hurdles.

Despite acute difficulties with data quality, there is a general lack of acceptance and prioritization of data governance, both in the boardroom and in the business units.