Do you manage your data as well as your office furniture?

The majority of organisations manage their office furniture with more discipline than their data assets. Why? Because furniture is a balance sheet asset, while data is not.

When it comes to their data, organisations do not follow established asset management principles and practices for raw materials sourcing, inventory tracking and assurance, production safety and quality, or product distribution and support.

This is according to Doug Laney, data & analytics innovation fellow at West Monroe, who will be presenting on ‘Managing data as an asset –how to measure, manage and monetise available information assets’, at ITWeb Business Intelligence Summit 2021, to be held from 9 to 11 March as a virtual event.

Speaking of the steps to take when implementing a data management plan, Laney says: “If you’re a company that deals with physical assets, such as a retailer or manufacturer, apply material asset management practices to your data management. If you’re a financial services firm, apply financial asset management concepts. If you’re a professional services firm then apply human capital management ideas.”

According to him, this will ensure that data is managed throughout its supply chain similarly to the way that core assets are managed, and using a vernacular that is common and comfortable to everyone in the organisation.

In terms of how companies should they go about monetising their data, Laney says this takes real executive leadership. “Most CIOs behave as if their middle name is “infrastructure” not “information.” This is why the role of the chief data officer has become mainstream. We’ve seen a significant boost in the ways organisations manage and leverage data when they have a CDO.”

During his presentation, Laney will be sharing examples of how organisations are innovating with information to create new data-driven value streams, and how to measure data’s value as if it were an actual balance sheet asset. He will include examples of organisations that have done this to drive millions of dollars of business value.