How to develop a data culture within your organisation

In case you didn’t know, it’s all about people and processes, according to Niels Stenfeldt, CEO at Stibo Systems

CDOs — or anyone with a CDO mandate — are normally charged with the responsibility to make the organisation data-driven with all the associated opportunities of maximising business outcomes. Their focus is rightly on business strategy and mapping data optimisation against business goals.

But to become data-driven relies first and foremost on people and processes. A second focal point should therefore be on how to strengthen and develop confidence in both.

Because data is so pervasive, it reaches beyond people’s professional trades and competences. Everyone has a role in data, either as a data owner, a data process owner or simply as a user.

The challenge of developing a data culture is not only to make people comfortable with data, but to make them data-savvy. As an encouraging factor, the CDO who succeeds in this endeavour will find his reward in a job that becomes much more gratifying.

This challenge requires the leadership to pay more attention to people’s skills and mandates than to their titles and seniority because a data culture is truly a collaborative culture.

Developing a collaborative mindset and acknowledging the dependency on people regardless of pay rate is perhaps the most difficult part of developing a data culture because dependencies can seem frightening.

The mission can essentially be boiled down to three actions that are required to develop a data culture and enhance the confidence in the people and processes that make up the data culture:

1. Subscribe to data governance principles that strengthens accountability and transparency. 2. Break down organisational and data silos that prevent collaboration and the optimisation of data. 3. Apply clever change management methods to educate and get people on board.

Good data governance is both the driving force and the desired result of your data culture, encompassing people and processes as well as technology.

Good data governance does not emerge out of a policy paper. It’s rooted in a sound data culture and helps enhancing the collaborative environment. Well performed data governance not only secures data quality and compliance needs, it also increases the general data awareness and hence the confidence in the organisation’s data culture.

The CDO must commit himself or herself and the organisation to a few key principles to achieve the coveted data culture:

• Data security and risk management. Relating to both the protection of the company’s information assets and the data privacy of users and customers, data security is an important pillar of confidence and a collaborative environment. • Accountability. Appointing data stewards responsible for each of their domains (ERP, the HR system, warehouse systems, etc.) provides a clear picture of responsibilities and access to data. • Data quality. A high quality of data that is rich, correct and consistent is like the food in a restaurant: If this one thing is bad, then all the rest doesn’t really matter. A high data quality will make it worthwhile to maintain systems and exchange data. • Traceability. Having an unbroken and transparent data supply chain makes cross-departmental collaboration much easier, and when data changes there must be plans to ensure that those changes are traceable. • Publication. Good data governance includes publication rules to prescribe the approved data flow requirements. • Deletion. An often-overlooked principle which nevertheless is at the core of good data governance. Outdated or illegally stored data is a liability that hinders compliance and weakens the foundation of a sound data culture.

As the activist mantra goes: “Information wants to be free.” So does enterprise data. Unlocking data from its silos and restricted repositories is the first step towards capitalising on it.