Building a data governance strategy in 2023

Attitudes towards data governance have shifted in the last 12 months from something that’s nice to have to a must-have, as businesses look to better measure and monetise their data. Getting it right has never been more important, with disparate data estates growing and risks around regulatory enforcement, private litigation and company reputation becoming more prominent. With this in mind, Giovanni Cervellati, research manager, European intelligent analytics and data strategies research at IDC Europe, says the majority of organisations are concerned about data loss, compliance breaches and lost opportunities. This has made data governance a priority as businesses look to boost data resilience, ensure continuous compliance and mitigate risks.  “Almost 70% of organisations view data privacy and security as key investment areas and 54% view data sovereignty, privacy and governance as factors to be addressed,” he notes.  Good data governance helps organisations of all kinds to achieve their ideal business outcomes, ensure robust audit trails and improve decision-making. Saul Judah, VP analyst at Gartner, highlights a prime example. “[One organisation] built business support by showing that its data and analytics transformation would enable the rapid calculation of crucial, cross-functional business KPIs,” says Judah. “The COVID-19 crisis showed the wisdom of this approach, and consequently, its data and analytics team was able to pull together crucial data to inform executive decision-making about the crisis in a short time.”

If an organisation isn’t implementing basic principles around data governance, then it’s hard to see how they can run an efficient business model and build and retain customer trust adds David Mason, information and fundraising compliance manager at the Salvation Army. “If you’re not keeping accurate records, it is hard to see how you can effectively communicate with your customers,” he cautions, adding if you don’t tell people how you’re going to use their personal data, it shouldn’t be a surprise if they no longer want to hear from your organisation. As far as data protection goes, organisations should consider the priorities of the data subject first, and the business second. “Most data governance is happening behind the scenes; we’ve got a strong framework in place for assessing and managing risk and recording processing activities,” he continues. “Our data protection officer (DPO) acts as the conduit between the business and the data protection regulator. Proof that our supporter-first approach is working can be highlighted by the fact that we receive very few complaints about our direct marketing activities – none about emails sent in 2021/22, and only 30-odd from over four million addressed mail packs in the same period.” What’s in store for data governance in 2023? In 2023, data governance strategies will be shaped around the growth of data volumes, cyber security threats, and the need to build digital trust. The pandemic accelerated a shift in attitudes, with data governance becoming a boardroom priority. The rise of hybrid working, for example, meant organisations needed to become more aware of data storage, data usage and data processing.