Analytics governance is essential for informed decision-making, maintaining analytics and reporting integrity, and supporting consistent business decision-making processes. The ZenTalk 5 webinar with industry thought leader Donald Farmer of TreeHive Strategy and ZenOptics CTO Heena Sood provided an in-depth analysis of the challenges and importance of analytics governance in current business operations. The important insights from the discussion have been summarized for a quick read.
The Role of Information Stewards in Governance
The role of information stewards is to be the experts who facilitate the collaboration between business units and IT departments. These individuals are critical in curating and managing analytics assets effectively for appropriate utilization by business users. The discussion outlined the importance of the stewardship role in formal governance structures, particularly for compliance and adapting to the changing nature of analytics technologies.
Factors Influencing the Need for Robust Governance
Strong governance is especially critical because of factors such as market consolidation, evolving technical architectures, and the growing complexity of analytics systems. Challenges like scalability, managing distributed systems, and self-service governance require strategic responses to uphold effective analytics governance.
Governance and the Relationship with Innovation
Both Donald and Heena conveyed that governance should not be seen as a constraint but as a foundation for safe innovation. Properly implemented governance gives organizations the assurance to try new ideas and adapt to changes in business models and technology, and establishes confidence for end users that they are making decisions based on accurate and appropriate information.
Implementing Effective Analytics Governance
Effective analytics governance involves selecting pertinent KPIs that align with strategic business goals, establishing solid report management procedures, and using analytics governance platforms to gain insights into the utilization of data and the life cycles of reports. Such platforms can provide visibility and insights regarding the overall analytics ecosystem, and will help with rationalization and cleanup efforts - as well as maintaining a clean, streamlined reporting environment over time.
Governance as a Strategic Tool
The main takeaway of the webinar is that analytics governance is a critical element in managing data responsibly and with strategic intent. Governance enables organizations to approach analytics complexities with greater assurance and insight. Based on extensive experience and research, Donald and Heena offered substantial and prescriptive guidance on analytics governance, spurring important discussions on its application in organizations. Listen to the ZenTalk series with Donald Farmer here.
Published April 10, 2024