Data-to-digital has its challenges.
Data will not maintain its value unless governed properly to keep the characteristics that make it accurate, intelligent, trustworthy, and connected, states IDC Financial Insights APAC’s latest report titled Data as an Asset: The New Challenges of Data Governance and How Asia/Pacific Financial Services Should Respond.
The report illustrates the requirements, benefits, and methods of comprehensive data governance for financial services institutions (FSIs).
According to IDC the challenge for many FSIs is that the format, usage, and complexity of data capture, propagation, and integration have significantly evolved, and the risks associated with poor data quality and governance even more so.
Data must be accurate, intelligent, trustworthy, and connected, said Michael Araneta, associate vice president at IDC Financial Insights APAC.
“Metadata, data lineage, data source, and other characteristics for high-quality digital data must be defined and maintained continuously. Ultimately, these characteristics create the foundations for the trusted use of data throughout the enterprise,” he said.
Other characteristics about the data must be tracked and correctly interpreted every time it is used, aside from ensuring that data is accurate.
Questions that must be asked include:
- How and where was the data sourced?
- How can we validate it is accurate?
- Has the customer given us consent to use or share the data?”
The Digital Data Quality Characteristics spectrum defines the characteristics of high-quality digital data and highlights the role data governance plays in creating and maintaining it. Asking those questions are just a few of the requirements that must be known about the data, said Steve Shipley, adjunct CIO at IDC Financial Insights APAC.
“Although previous data governance approaches have improved data quality and understanding, the risk of having any data inaccuracies or biases in today’s digital world can be fatal for an FSI. Unless strong data governance using a data, intelligence platform is in place, Data-to-Digital initiatives are likely to be problematic, costly, and slow to deliver,” he said.
This IDC Perspective highlights the need for and benefit of strong data governance to deliver Data to Digital. Although most financial services institutions (FSIs) have invested in, and have used some form of, data governance, an integrated and holistic data intelligence platform for Data-to-Digital governance is now required to handle digital data volumes and complexities.
