Protect Your Data with Data Governance

There are many reasons why organizations design, develop, and deliver Data Governance Programs. Typical reasons include improving data quality, improving analytical capabilities, resolving known data issues, improving understanding and accountability for data, assuring regulatory compliance, etc. The list is lengthy. The protection of data, personal, health or otherwise, has been steadily bubbling to the surface as the most important and easier place to start. I didn’t say “easy.” I said “easier.” Let me explain.

First of all, gaining consensus on the need to protect data is a no-brainer. The government (wherever you are) is telling you that you must protect the data and be able to prove you are doing so. There are lots of rules around protecting data. Everybody needs to be aware that there are rules, be told the rules, be told how to follow the rules, and follow the rules. Sounds pretty easy.

While meeting with a client the other day, I shared four progressive statements— basic principles so to speak— about data governance that are associated with protecting data. While my client was quick to write them down, he quickly noticed that these statements build on each other and can become the basis of protecting data through data governance.

Allow me to quickly walk through each principle.

This is a fact. You will lose your customers if they have the slightest notion that their data is not safe while under your care. I have always said (to some peoples’ chagrin) that the auditors are your friends. I say that because the auditors are the people in your organization who can tell you that you are protecting your data in a demonstrable way. I suggest that it is better to engage your internal auditors proactively rather than to wait for an assessment report from an external source (read – bad news!). The chances are that you and your organization already know if you are doing a “good enough” job of protecting your customer’s personal information. It is not enough these days for the customers to trust that you are protecting their data. I am guessing that the day is coming that customers require proof.

This is another fact. You cannot argue with it. A quick Google search on “protect customer data” returns over 119 million results, mostly from companies looking to help you protect your data. This result led me to believe that somebody is telling organizations that they must protect their data.

Over 75 countries have adopted comprehensive data protection laws, including nearly every country in Europe and Latin America. The U.S. is noteworthy for not adopting a comprehensive privacy law; instead the U.S. has adopted laws specifically targeted at financial, medical, political, and internet privacy. Specific privacy is even guaranteed in the Constitution of the United States. The government takes privacy very seriously and the rules are getting stricter. I am guessing that the day is coming that the government will require that organizations demonstrate that they are following the law and protecting their customer data. 

This principle may not be based on fact. It is my experience that Senior Leadership must say that their organization protects sensitive customer data, but they may be less certain that their data is being protected appropriately.