“What’s in it for me?” As a CDO, that’s the key question you need to answer when building out your data governance strategy. In my work with customers, everyone from C-level executives to data practitioners describes a new charter within data governance. While controlling risk and overseeing compliance are still priorities, CDOs are now also tasked with driving business value by providing quick and easy access to high-quality data and accelerating decision-making. In order to get buy-in to your strategy, you need to communicate its value in a way that resonates with people in a variety of roles across the organization.
A one-size-fits-all approach to answering, “What’s in it for me?” (aka WIIFM) won’t work. Instead, the needs of your audience should shape your response. For example, there are segments at the working edge of the organization that might not have a data scientist group but that still need to use data to find new insights, new products, new services, and new markets. These folks are what we call “citizen” consumers of data, who understand business processes but who may not have many technical skills, know how to get access to data, or know where that data might reside.
Right now, these people may have to go through archaic channels, such as submitting a project ticket for data, calling their buddy in Finance, and then submitting a report request, only to find out that they’ve asked for the wrong report. The WIIFM for them is the ability to easily find what they need, which in turn can help them work more productively.
Citizen consumers need to see a data product on a shelf with proper labelling and subject matter expert contact information and easy fulfillment mechanisms, so that when they “shop” for the data and check it out, they can also see how it’s going to be fulfilled and tracked. In short, they’re looking for a data marketplace.
For other individuals, their WIIFM explains how a data marketplace helps people across the organization become more aware of the business functions around them. By having the ability to access data lineage maps in the marketplace, they can have confidence that data is fit for use and get answers to questions like:
By making it easier for people to understand the data, gain access to it, and begin to map the connections that they have to other parts of the organization, individuals can increase their effectiveness.
For example, in my previous role at a large pharmaceutical firm, one of our biggest challenges was the cost of making a drug. We had to look at that cost as it traveled across multiple phases—discovery and development, preclinical, clinical research, clinical trials, and commercial.
