This is a question that never came up very often the first few years I was a data governance consultant but these days I am being asked it much more frequently. I think that the increase is due to the fact that there are good data governance tools available now and that data governance is getting much more focus than previously.
In the last couple of years, I have seen a move away from companies implementing data governance because they are in an industry where their regulator requires it, to organizations starting data governance purely because of the benefits they can achieve. That also includes companies looking to extend what they had put in place to meet regulatory requirements across more of their organization.
Before I answer the question, I think it is important to emphasize that despite having the word “data” in the title, data governance is more about people than data. Most of the work you will do when designing and implementing a data governance framework is around organizational and cultural change. It is about the roles and responsibilities around data and the processes that these roles will follow.
It is for this reason that when data governance tools first started emerging I have to admit that I was skeptical about whether they could really help. In fact, if you search the internet hard, you may even be able to find some comments I’ve made in the past along those lines! After all, in the early stages of a data governance initiative I seldom find myself sitting at a desk using any type of software (data governance or otherwise); I am meeting and engaging stakeholders.
However, over recent years, having seen these tools evolve, I have revised my opinion and will happily say that yes, they can help you do data governance, but when I say yes it does come with a caveat. In order to add value to your data governance initiative, they must be used in the correct manner and at the correct time.
The tools out there can be fantastic enablers and facilitators but they cannot do your job for you. On more than one occasion I have heard of companies who have purchased such a Tool and thought that that was it – job done. However, it soon became clear that the Tool “was not working.” Upon investigation, it became obvious that the tool was not the problem. The Business believed that it would do everything for them, which clearly it cannot.
If your whole data governance initiative centers around a tool, it is unlikely that your Business user will ever engage, because they will be under the mistaken belief that the tool will do all the work for them.
You will still need to get stakeholders engaged in the process because without their buy-in, the whole initiative is likely to fail. The tool won’t work unless the whole business is signed up to data governance in the first place. Tools do not relieve them of any responsibility.
