The expression “data governance” refers to the process related to the management of data (how it is collected and used) understood as a real business asset.
This requires setting and following rules and a real working framework shared among different business departments.
There are several definitions of “data governance” released by authoritative sources.
Here are some of them:
- Gartner defines it as “the mapping of decision rights and the subsequent creation of an accountability framework to ensure that appropriate behaviours are adopted in the evaluation, production, consumption and control of data and related analysis practices.”
- Forrester, on the other hand, defines it as “the process by which an organization formalises a fiduciary duty to manage the data assets critical to its success.”
The concept of Data Governance is linked to that of Data Cleaning and Data Enrichment and is also fundamental to a successful data-driven marketing approach that puts the user at the centre (remember the important contribution made by customer data platforms)
The benefits of effective data governance strategies can be traced to:
- common understanding of data and consistent view by different business areas;
- data enhancement and qualification;
- data mapping;
- data compliance and compliance with applicable regulations.
