WHO OWNS THE DATA

It is clear that the real owners of data are exclusively the clients that are agreed to share their private information with companies. But my inquiry aims to identify who is the real owner of data when these are at home. After the client approves sharing data with a company, who is the holder of this data? Data Stewart? Chief Data Officer? Data Scientist? Or perhaps the Data & Analytics area? It should not!

Many key opinion leaders affirm the data owner is an individual (or group) who is accountable for a data asset. In other words, that is an executive role destined to a department, team, or business unit that ha data custodian. Areas such as Compliance, Information Security, Data Science, Data & Analytics, and forth are generally appointed as owners of the data at the company. If it is true, at the first sight it seems that those data are closed in a safe and far of the business. Since General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect, keeping the client data in a safe place has become the first goal of enterprises worldwide. However, keeping data safe does not means to keep them distant from the business.

It is good to remember that data are commodities. I agree data are the 21st century’s most valuable commodities, but they are commodities yet[1]. The value of data there is not in getting the correct or a large volume of data. The value resides in what the business can do with the amount of data. To be more specific, the value is how the enterprise can go further with the insights mined from data. Daily, more data is generated that can be analyzed to create even more value for customers and businesses. The data enables a more natural level of insight when using data to understand evolving customer motivations and the market.

A report[2] by the Capgemini Research Institute states that data-driven companies vastly outperform their competitors on several financial KPIs, in addition to earning 70% more revenue per employee and generating 22% more profits. These groups of companies that becomes profitability because of their mastery of data are called in the study of “Data Masters”. Still according to the article, “Data Masters know how to use data to secure business outcomes. They are able to transform data and insights into actions because they have the necessary infrastructure, governance, and operations. Moreover, they know how to leverage external data and enhance their insights, to their considerable advantage. (…) “Data is business”.

On their 64 pages, the Capgemini study shows in a precise way and without questions that the Data Mastery companies work their data in two big elements: Data foundations and Data behaviors. The first one is related to tools and technologies with which an organization can use and leverage data, while data behaviors are part of the mindset of the organization and are related to people, processes, skills, and culture. Taken together, they drive data mastery!

Perhaps it is impossible to take insights from data without connecting the data with the strategy company. Summarizing data and answering what happened is the first step of four on the Gartner’s analytic value escalator[3]. Yet what makes a company to achieve the top of the analytics value escalator is connecting their data with the business. It is the business that will conduct the company from descriptive analysis to predictive analysis. To transport a corporation from ‘what happened’ to ‘how can we make it happen’ it is mandatory to stop seeing analysis as ad hoc service periodically provided by a specific area. It is encouraged to put the data & analytics in the center of the business strategy, where the chief data officer (CDO) has a seat on the board company. In this way, any area and any employee are the real owner of the data. Does not matter which kind area or graduation the employee has; all must have analytical skills and to be data driven.

It is impossible to separate data, technology, digital, and business. If a company desire to be more profitability or have engaged clients, that company shall be data-driven and include data at the center of decisions. In his recently launched book named Rastreável[4], Ricardo Cappra affirms “the data available to those who need to make decisions about a particular problem mean nothing if those individuals do not use it as a performance improvement mechanism”. All employee from any level and any area should be analytical and an owner of the company data. They are the owner and will decide how the data should be analyzed to help the company make better decisions based on data. It is the main role of leader provide an environment where all employees can make mistakes and learn and develop their data skills. Everyone needs to have a sense of ownership of the data.

As in all in this life, to be an owner of something does not mean to do only what I desire and wait everyone needs to follow my decisions. It is the same when someone becomes a car owner. The car belongs to someone, but he/she needs to follow several rules to avoid penalties. Some rules are: pay the tax, have a license drive, and fill up the tank to avoid lack of fuel. Those rules were created by organizations/governments to aim for common well-being, a safe place for everyone, and an ecosystem running. Enterprises around the globe should follow the same scheme:

- Choose an area that might be the responsible for the data governance (define rules to a common well-being)

- Keep a CDO in the board chair (ensure a safe place for everyone)

- Boost the company’s owner mentality (keep the ecosystem running).

And never forget: In the very near future, companies that make decisions based more on guesswork than on data will be at greater risk of going out of business.

Ligia Galvão

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[1] Steve Martin: https://technative.io/data-the-worlds-new-precious-commodity/

[2] The data-powered enterprise: Why organizations must strengthen their data mastery: https://www.capgemini.com/research/the-data-powered-enterprise/

[3] Gartner’s analytic value escalator: https://www.flickr.com/photos/27772229@N07/8267855748/

[4] CAPPRA, Ricardo. Rastreável: redes, vírus, dados e tecnologias para proteger e vigiar a sociedade. Actual, 2021.