Enterprise Data Management (EDM) Strategy begins with the enterprise business drivers. Those drivers are defined by the industry, segment, competition, regulations and many other factors. These various business drivers determine mission statement and business strategy.
The business strategy drives operational and analytical processes. This is where EDM finds it place, in managing enterprise data that drives processes excellence, BI, and analytics, and off-late, AI and GenAI.
EDM must rely on Data Governance (DG) as a horizontal service or shared program that assists in driving wider EDM program objectives. Therefore more and more leaders are forming separate DG functions to address the opportunity.
Data Governance starts with Master Data Management (MDM) and through it, creates a pathway to success for wider value chain activities.
MDM in particular strings together various enterprise flows, be it Hire-2-Fire, Procure-2-Pay, Quote-2-Cash etc., connecting various functions and related value-chain activities, all the way into BI, Analytics, and Data Science (AI and GenAI). So, pristine master data is a must before anything else can be done with it. DG helps in creating enterprise structure and operating procedures that start with master data, but go well into other critical areas, past transactional data, into analytics, all the while making a healthy trade-off between data democratization and, privacy and security.
The trick is to get immediate value out of MDM and DG programs in any function or vertical, especially with an eye on BI and analytics. Today’s executives have no patience, rightfully so, to wait for months before they see value from MDM or DG programs.
That is why today’s functional and IT leaders seek partners that can move at their pace.
We must create and execute a sound Data Governance Strategy Within that broader mandate, we must work on MDM Strategy creation and execution where I believe it should begin. More importantly, we must listen to all organizational stakeholders, making sure that there is wider acceptance, and do this it at the pace of delivery desired by the executives.
I have enjoyed working with many organizations achieving their goals on time and under budget, while keeping enough room for agility!