5 Pillars for Practicing Good Data Governance

But mom, everyone is doing it!

Really, everyone?

You know that uncomfortable feeling. When you think the world around is doing something that you’re not. Well, I’m here to tell you that despite all that’s out there about data governance not EVERYONE is following best practices and standards for their marketing data.  Many companies realize the importance of data management but are experiencing the many challenges that come along with governance.  Where is the best place to start you ask? With a little data education of course.

What exactly is data governance?
Why recreate the wheel. With many definitions to choose from, I personally appreciate this one from ZEDcenture:

Data governance is the set of policies regarding decision rights and the accountability framework to encourage desirable behavior in the valuation, creating, storage, use, archival, and deletion of data and information. It also includes the process, roles, standards, and metrics that ensure an effective use of data information in enabling your organization to achieve its goals.

Data governance is meant to set up a framework for long-term success when it comes to how your data is utilized.

Does my team need a data governance plan?
In short, yes!

Unstructured data makes up 80% of a company’s total data volume (Forbes). The average organization’s data volume will double about every two years (NCBI). In my world as a data analyst, this makes me very happy. A bigger and more challenging playground! But this reality certainly comes with great responsibility.

As the saying goes… with great power comes great responsibility. That responsibility consists of meeting regulatory compliance laws. Now, I know that sounds scary, but don’t fear! Because the majority of companies need to meet these laws, individuals have already created well-planned and well-executed strategies for implementation. There are multiple resources floating around the interwebs but I will direct you to this fun video!

As more companies pursue active strategies for unlocking the power of customer information, data governance is steadily emerging as a “need-to-have” commodity at the most senior levels within a marketing organization.

Data governance may well be one of the top five most important challenges faced by organizations today. This includes the marketing organization. Your marketing team undoubtedly runs on data, some of it is critical to operations, and most of it is confidential. Your data might be your team’s most critical asset, so a plan to manage it deserves time and attention.

Next steps
So, what can you do now? Great question, you sharp (and responsible) marketer!

If your team is looking to make the move to practicing data governance, the following five elements should be pillars to your approach.

1. Maintain an evolving catalog of your customers’ information
   Create and define a plan for maintaining a centralized, permanent, and evolving catalog of all customer data resources across your team and enterprise. We’re talking everything from new lead touch points to customer purchase to renewals, cross-sells and up-sells. Use this to establish a master taxonomy that aligns with industry classification best practices, which may be found in this DMA article. This particular article provides internal stakeholders with insight into the background of where the data asset comes from and what it means.

2. Develop a unified data strategy
   Identify a long-term data strategy for how customer information will be sourced, compiled, deployed, maintained, and safeguarded to suit the needs of your business. Begin with a discussion of use cases tied to the available data and the potential marketing applications of that data. A key element in any data strategy is to design and implement a data governance program. The fundamental premise of a data governance program is that the business designs and runs the program and the IT department (or data management team) executes the policies and procedures defined by the data governance team. In addition, a good data governance program incorporates change management practices that accelerate user adoption and ensures long-term sustainability. Incase you were wondering how far behind or ahead you are, “Only 1 in 10 organizations has a data strategy” –Peter Aiken founder, Data Blueprint.

3. Build an underlying infrastructure to support your marketing data utilization
   Examine and document marketing workflows, database structure, and access requirements needed by your team to execute on the applications defined during the last step. You will need to evaluate data supply chains and consultant partnerships, identify your ideal toolsets and supporting technologies that align with your vision to allocate data internally and externally.  The goal here is to develop a unified cross-functional infrastructure that can support the deployment of a company-wide data strategy.

4. Consider the needs of ALL stakeholders
   This one is pretty self-explanatory but easier said than done. Rather than building an infrastructure to support the fluid needs of the company, engineer the data to support the granular needs, interests, and long-term engagement of all individuals who are affected by the use of your marketing data. I know I mentioned earlier to deploy company-wide, but wanted to reiterate here how important it is to keep everyone in mind during your implementation process.Here is a list of individuals to consider beyond your core team:
   • Shareholders
   • Business partners
   • Business units
   • Outside venders
   • The customers themselves

5. Develop a “data culture” grounded in continuous improvement
   Develop and reinforce an institutional mindset built around the power of the insights and knowledge gained from your data. Keep that initial goal in mind: infuse proper data governance into your team from the start, or as soon as possible into the process to make your task significantly easier. Make it clear that in order for information utilization to be successful as your data grows, everyone needs to take responsibility for the management of your data.

In conclusion
Your organization’s data will continue to evolve and grow in years to come. And with that, more and more markers are seeing data as a fundamental driver of real and lasting business advantages – best keep that data in check! In order to execute a well-engineered marketing strategy your team will need to leverage high quality, secure data in increasing complexity. All organizations and teams within an organization need to be able to make decisions about how to manage their data and find value in it. The governance of your marketing data should be a centerpiece within your organization’s strategy.