Hub & Spoken.

What's in this podcast?

In this episode, Jason Foster shares a recent experience he had as a consumer, and how it relates to data governance and data management.

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One Big Message

Data governance is not just what you think it is. The way an organisation manages its data can help it grow – or can put the business in less favourable situations.

[00:29] Jason’s experience in purchasing bike from a retailer

[00:48] His transaction with a logistics company online, and what went wrong

[02:22] How things were dealt with

[04:24] The impact of the experience to him as a customer

[04:52] The connection of this experience to data governance and data management

[06:45] Poor data management involved

[07:13] Other examples of poor data management

What can go wrong with poor data management

Jason’s experience of trying to buy a bike and how the logistics failed is a result of poor data management. Several problems arose such as: relevant information not being relayed to people that needed it on more than one occasion, the transaction not being recorded and overall poor customer service. These issues led to lost income, lost time, and lost future revenue – which might have been avoided with better data governance.

Poor data management can result in:

• products that are incorrectly labeled
• customers receiving different quantities and/or quality of product than they ordered
• re-issuing of invoices because a customer’s information or purchase details are incorrect
• online stock availability differing from the actual count in the warehouse
• inaccurate payments to employees because salary information hasn’t been updated

These scenarios can be brought about due to lack of a data strategy, and inefficient governance around how information is processed and created.

Importance of data management

Data management is key to ensure the operation of a business runs smoothly. Good relationships and communications with customers are essential, and should be standard practice, as they can have a strong impact on the business. Good experience can bring positive feedback to the company – word of mouth can be more effective than marketing. Adverse experience can ruin the image of the company, and result in losses of immediate or future revenue.

Data management is not something only data professionals and information technology teams should pay attention to: everyone in an organisation creates and processes data. Comprehensive communication and immediate relay of data can optimise so many business processes.

Efficient data governance

Data governance has a direct impact on the success of an organisation. Sharing of information across the organisation ensures that everyone is well-informed. Data should be adequate enough to address the needs of the organisation, and to provide informed solutions as issues arise.

Every employee has a responsibility to be critical in handling data and information within the company, in support of efficient data governance. Neglecting data governance can have a negative impact that the business will have to remedy the future periods.

To summarise

How an organisation approaches data governance can have a direct impact on the success of the business. Comprehensive communication and immediate relay of data optimises the performance of  regular business processes. There are a number of issues that can be resolved (or avoided) with good data management. Organisations must be critical in handling data, and formulate strategies to ensure ongoing enhancement of data management practices.