Data governance has evolved from being merely a compliance and policy watchdog function, to being a valuable business capability that helps achieve strategic goals and objectives.
But to be successful, this organisational function must be planned, executed and positioned as a strategic business focus area, jointly led by business executives in their capacity as data owners and a chief data officer, or a data governance manager in a smaller organisation.
So says Sizwe Gwala, data governance manager at Alexander Forbes, who will be speaking at ITWeb’s Business Intelligence Summit 2020, to be held from 3 to 5 March at The Sandton Convention Centre. His talk will outline how data governance is evolving to address new compliance, business and technology challenges.
Gwala says the data governance office should focus on adding value in various areas within the business, such as data risk management, regulatory compliance, ensuring proper and adequate data usage, creating a single source of data and increasing its trustworthiness and integrity.
Value should also be added in terms of improving data literacy across the business, enabling faster business decisions through high-quality data, and reducing business operational costs through process efficiencies.
“Gaining greater data transparency and faster speed to insights are also key,” adds Gwala.
Onerous task
He says implementing an effective data governance programme is an onerous and lengthy task that comes with a variety of hurdles that data practitioners will encounter.
However, if done correctly it can bring substantial benefits, such as: coherence, collaboration and standardisation of deliverables in an organisation, in terms of ensuring compliance with key internal and external data regulations; enabling the standardisation of data systems, policies and procedures through clearer data understanding and lineage; increasing transparency for all data deliverables; increasing revenue through reduced data errors; and improving the overall quality of organisational data.
During his talk, Gwala will give the audience an understanding of how data governance is evolving and why. He will cover areas where governance fits in within modern data ecosystems, from point of entry to reporting and analysis, as well as how privacy and compliance issues are being driven and influenced by regulation such as the Protecton of Personal Information Act (POPIA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
He will also look at the challenges of governing self-service, and moving from data stewards to stewardship, curation and coaching.
Finally, Gwala will unpack how advanced technologies such as machine learning and AI are changing how data is managed, secured and consumed.
ITWeb Business Intelligence Summit 2020
ITWeb's 15th annual Business Intelligence Summit takes place in March at the Sandton Convention Centre. Its theme is: "Enabling actionable insights through data, analytics and AI." The event will give delegates the advice they need to take their BI, data, analytics and AI projects to the next level. Click here to register your seat today.
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