Episode Nine: Master Data and Governance, It's Not Scary
Host: George L'Heureux, Principal Consultant, Data Strategy
Guest: Liz Barrette, Vice President, Data Advisory Services
Why is there so much concern, frustration, and worry within organizations about terms like “governance” and “master data”? Perhaps it’s because these terms connote authority, policy, protection, rules, and regulation. Most of the time, it means change, and most people steer away from change wherever possible.
Governance doesn't have to mean ownership and restriction. It's much more about enablement for consumption. Master data is about connection. Like the Rosetta stone, it’s a capability that enables languages and countries to speak and engage with one another. Similarly, when you're bringing data together as a collective whole within a business, you want to consider how to make the data connect with some kind of common focus - some kind of common key - that can help drive that enablement and have that power of connection.
Instead of worrying about terms we need to stay focused on the journey: what our actions are in order to get to where we need to be on our organization’s data journey, and progress faster. In today’s world being able to bring our data together and connect it is an imperative for business success.