Data Governance: What Works And What Doesn't

The demand for trusted information continues to spiral upward, driven not only by investments in customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain management, business intelligence, and data warehousing, but also next-generation strategic initiatives in master data management (MDM) and information-as-a-service (IaaS). The cross-enterprise complexity of these emerging business requirements have led to an obvious yet often ignored fact: Technology is only part of the solution. Until you understand and embrace data governance, your information management initiatives won't deliver their promised value. Effective governance requires defining organizational roles and responsibilities, including ownership of the processes and policies by which information is captured, maintained, and consumed. Unfortunately, no single governance model works for everyone, so your first challenge will be to develop the unique governance model that will be successful for your unique organization.