2009: Focus on data management

All the signs are that many companies are focusing on data management as a way of reducing costs and improving customer service in these challenging times. Of course, it is no less important this year than it was last year or the year before, but when the economy is experiencing a slowdown (as it is now), the focus often turns to consolidation rather than expansion.

Efforts and resources are diverted to uncovering and implementing ways of increasing business efficiency through reducing costs and improving customer service, using existing assets and opportunities rather than expanding or buying more products.

Further evidence of the importance that companies in South Africa are now attaching to data management was delivered on 18 February this year, when over 120 representatives from more than 50 different companies gathered at Vodaworld, in Midrand, to participate in the inaugural meeting of DAMA SA (The Data Management Association, Southern Africa Chapter).

DAMA is a not-for-profit, vendor-independent association of technical and business professionals dedicated to advancing the concepts and practices for data resource management and enterprise information (See www.dama.org or www.dama.org.za for more details).

Many of South Africa's major companies were present from a wide variety of sectors, including financial institutions, government departments, telecommunications, retail, etc. Data management affects them all, and they clearly welcomed the opportunity to join the worldwide largest professional association for data management, with over 5 000 members in 45 chapters spread across 11 countries throughout the world.

Alan Snow, Director of data management consultancy Infoblueprint, and recently elected to the DAMA SA committee, says: “DAMA can benefit all companies in South Africa by providing a local forum for discussion on the latest trends, solutions and best practices, etc, as well as providing access to a worldwide body of expert knowledge on all things related to data and information management.”

Thanks to the sponsorship of Edge Consulting, it was possible to arrange for Dr Peter Aitken, Founding Director of the Institute for Data Research, and an Associate Professor for Information Research at the Virginia Commonwealth University, to be the keynote speaker at this event. His topic: 'Converting data to business value', was very well received, and explained just how much value can be gained from a well implemented data management programme. Dr Aitken presented the Data Management Maturity Model, to illustrate the five stages of 'data management maturity':

From Dr Aitken's research across many industrial sectors in several countries (including South Africa), it was clear that the majority of companies are still throwing away millions of dollars, euros and rands through neglecting to manage data as a key business asset. Dr Aitken brought the message home by showing a number of examples of the catastrophic effects of inadequate data management, and its 'knock-on effects' that result in excessive and unnecessary costs and low quality customer service.

One company that is currently implementing a major programme of data management is Santam. In the second half of 2008, 64 Santam employees participated in the three-day 'Introduction to Data Modelling' course, organised for Santam by Infoblueprint and delivered by Infoblueprint partner, Amberjack Systems Engineering. The course participants were from a range of Santam departments, and included business and system analysts, programmers, Web developers, warehouse specialists and solution architects.

The course provides a comprehensive introduction to the theory and practice of data modelling and its practical application during business and system analysis and computer system development. The emphasis is on the practical, and the objective is to enable students to use the technique to gain a crystal clear understanding of any business area and the user requirements of that area, as well as to produce a flexible, robust database that fully meets those requirements. A module on the importance of data quality was also included, this module being presented by Infoblueprint.

The course was rated very highly by the participants (average of 91% across the seven courses). The following were among the comments received from the participants:

“You guys really made it fun to learn data modelling!”
“Baie dankie vir 'n baie lekker en opwindende drie-dae - het dit baie geniet en baie geleer.”
“It was one of the nicest, most interesting and fun courses I've attended. Thank you - I really enjoyed it.”
“I've enjoyed the course tremendously... I can't wait to start implementing what I've learned!”

Every company takes great care to manage its financial and human resources, but what about all the 'capital' and 'asset value' wrapped up in your data? Data is truly the only asset that you can use over and over again to drive all your business processes (whereas people and money are strictly limited resources that cannot be 're-used').

Almost every decision made in your organisation is supported by information in the form of performance reports, feasibility studies, monthly sales reports, business intelligence etc... which are all distilled from a variety of data sources created or maintained within your organisation. Surely, these data assets are worth managing with the same care and attention as the human and financial resources, to make sure that they provide reliable information to the right people, in the right format and at the right time?

This is what data management is all about, and when it is applied holistically across the whole organisation, the benefits are truly enormous.

The message is clear: data management is a fundamental and essential requirement that - when properly implemented - will benefit all departments and all business sectors. It is equally true that neglecting to address it with the same rigour and professionalism as financial or human resource management, is a very high-risk approach that will result in unreliable and incomplete information being used at all levels in your organisation. This, in turn, will inevitably cause excessive costs, inefficiencies and sub-optimal performance.

Organisations that address data management as a 'high-priority' issue will make a huge difference to the efficiency and 'bottom-line' of all facets of the business, as well as lowering the potential for risk exposure, and raising the confidence levels that the information they have is correct, complete and up-to-date.

For more information about the contents of this article, please contact alan.snow@infoblueprint.co.za.