CIO opinion
Stan Christiaens, Co-founder and
CTO of Collibra
CIO OPINION
“
ORGANISATIONS THAT
MAKE DECISIONS BASED ON
DATA AND BUSINESS ANALYTICS
OUTPERFORM THOSE THAT DO NOT.
THIS HOLDS TRUE ACROSS CRITICAL
BUSINESS AREAS SUCH AS OUTPUT,
PRODUCTIVITY, RETURN ON EQUITY
AND MARKET VALUE.
//////////////////
Building a data-
centric business:
The value of culture
Data governance is
imperative to ensuring
the highest quality of data
exists throughout the
lifecycle of an enterprise.
Stan Christiaens, Co-
founder and CTO of
Collibra, tells us how
building data-centricity
into your career should be
high on the list
of priorities.
M
any businesses will agree that
data offers huge potential
business value. Research from
MIT and UPenn has found organisations
that make decisions based on data and
business analytics outperform those
that do not. This holds true across
critical business areas such as output,
productivity, return on equity and market
value. However, investment often comes
at a high price. From data collection to
cleaning, hosting to maintenance and
analytics to security, the shift towards
becoming a data-driven organisation
can not only feel like more work but it
can be compromised if the human and
organisational factors are ignored.
Businesses must recognise the
transformation that needs to take place
from within. To fully capitalise on their
data, organisations need employees at
all levels to understand how data can be
used to drive new and existing business
– not simply operational efficiency.
This requires a strong data culture that
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INTELLIGENTCIO
encompasses various aspects: wide access
to trusted, high-quality data, data literacy,
value and belief systems, and leadership.
Without this foundation, organisations
will not be able to maximise the impact of
their investments in data infrastructures
and turn insights into action.
Starting from the top
To set and execute on a business strategy
driven by data and analytics, businesses
need a senior sponsor to champion
the value of data and work closely with
employees at all levels to communicate
this message. By sharing a clear vision of
how data will enable the business to grow
and empower staff to drive real change,
these leaders will inspire employees and
reshape their attitudes towards data;
motivating staff to use data in their
decision-making and rise up as data
citizens. This is also an important step in
promoting the idea of data as an asset;
educating employees on how the data
they come across on a daily basis ripples
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