Data governance programmes are crucial for trust

Precisely, a global leader in data integrity, has released findings from its new data management survey, created in collaboration with Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business (LeBow). The Data Professionals Speak: Trends in Data Governance and Data Quality Programs report provides enlightening insights into the potential rewards available to organisations starting to build data governance programmes. The report found that 66 percent of data and analytics professionals experienced improved data quality as a “leading benefit” when implementing data governance programmes, a trend that rises to a staggering 83 percent for organisations that already have a mature data governance framework in place. With 75 percent of respondents also acknowledging that data quality is their organisation’s “top concern,” the report delivers a compelling message for businesses looking to better understand and trust their data. 

“There’s no question that data quality is vital in enabling business leaders to make trusted business decisions,” said Murugan Anandarajan, PhD, Professor of Decision Sciences & MIS and Senior Associate Dean at LeBow. “For reporting and analytics to be trustworthy, the underlying data must be accurate, consistent, and complete. One of the report’s key findings was that data governance is a crucial factor in how organisations are achieving the quality of data that builds trust.” 

Data governance investments deliver added value to organisations 

The findings show that organisations already investing in data governance are realising significant added value from their data programmes. Alongside improved data quality, respondents reported an overall “higher quality of data analytics and insights” (56%), as well as other benefits relating to “facilitated collaboration” (52%) and “faster access to relevant data” (50%). 

Furthermore, the existence of a data governance programme seems to encourage the adoption of more rigorous processes for data quality measurement. Fifty four percent (54%) of organisations with data governance frameworks already deployed report that they have mechanisms in place to measure the quality of their data, compared to just 34 percent of organisations who don’t already have a data governance programme implemented. With one in three of the overall respondents admitting that they “don’t currently measure the quality of their data”, the implementation of a data governance strategy could provide a real opportunity for those seeking to better understand their data - while also improving the measurement of key business metrics. 

Data governance programmes have executive support, but not cultural awareness 

However, the report also shows that despite data governance programmes receiving strong executive support, there is a very real challenge with overall organisational awareness and adoption – with 63 percent of respondents citing this as their primary obstacle to success. The findings uncover an appetite from businesses to better support adoption with enhanced training programmes, with 51 percent of respondents reporting that some form of training is already place, 26 percent confirming that a formal programme is being planned, and 23 percent admitting that no training programme has been developed at all. 

“Data quality and data governance, key pieces of data integrity, work together to enable businesses to understand and trust their data for confident decision-making,” said Emily Washington, Senior Vice President of Product Management at Precisely. “This report with LeBow uncovers how data governance strengthens data quality. It also provides fascinating insight into the choices that organisations are making today and assesses which ones are the most effective in charting a path to data governance maturity and, ultimately, to achieving data integrity.”