Why are data professionals investing in data governance programs?

Precisely and Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business (LeBow) released findings from their data management survey. The report provides insights into the potential rewards available to organizations starting to build data governance programs.

The report found that 66% of data and analytics professionals experienced improved data quality as a “leading benefit” when implementing data governance programs, a trend that rises to a staggering 83% for organizations that already have a mature data governance framework in place.

With 75% of respondents also acknowledging that data quality is their organization’s “top concern,” the report delivers a compelling message for businesses looking to better understand and trust their data.

“There’s no question that data quality is vital in enabling business leaders to make trusted business decisions,” said Murugan Anandarajan, PhD, Professor of Decision Sciences & MIS and Senior Associate Dean at LeBow.

“For reporting and analytics to be trustworthy, the underlying data must be accurate, consistent, and complete. One of the report’s key findings was that data governance is a crucial factor in how organizations are achieving the quality of data that builds trust.”

Delivering added value to organizations

The findings show that organizations already investing in data governance are realizing significant added value from their data programs. Alongside improved data quality, respondents reported an overall “higher quality of data analytics and insights” (56%), as well as other benefits relating to “facilitated collaboration” (52%) and “faster access to relevant data” (50%).

Furthermore, the existence of a data governance program seems to encourage the adoption of more rigorous processes for data quality measurement. 54% of organizations with data governance frameworks already deployed report that they have mechanisms in place to measure the quality of their data, compared to just 34% of organizations who don’t already have a data governance program implemented.

With one in three of the overall respondents admitting that they “don’t currently measure the quality of their data”, the implementation of a data governance strategy could provide a real opportunity for those seeking to better understand their data – while also improving the measurement of key business metrics.

Data governance programs have executive support, but not cultural awareness

However, the report also shows that despite data governance programs receiving strong executive support, there is a very real challenge with overall organizational awareness and adoption – with 63% of respondents citing this as their primary obstacle to success.

The findings uncover an appetite from businesses to better support adoption with enhanced training programs, with 51% of respondents reporting that some form of training is already place, 26% confirming that a formal program is being planned, and 23% admitting that no training program has been developed at all.

“Data quality and data governance, key pieces of data integrity, work together to enable businesses to understand and trust their data for confident decision-making,” said Emily Washington, SVP of Product Management at Precisely.

“This report with LeBow uncovers how data governance strengthens data quality. It also provides fascinating insight into the choices that organizations are making today and assesses which ones are the most effective in charting a path to data governance maturity and, ultimately, to achieving data integrity.”