Data Management, Governance And Stewardship - II

Continuing the discussion from the last post, let’s understand the relationship between Data management, governance and stewardship.

You have just built a world class analytics platform that will cater to the data needs of your analysts and business managers so that they can slice and dice it and bring you insights that will improve operational efficiency and give you a cutting edge over your competitors. But what happens when after spending millions of dollars your business managers are not confident about the data they are using? Can your organization rely on the decisions they make? How do you ensure that the system maintains the same level of quality with which you built the system and it is not deteriorating over time? How do you ensure that your data and its handling is compliant and in agreement with various internal and external regulations?

If you are asking these questions you are probably questioning the quality of your data or information. Some people argue that data and information are two separate entities with data representing the ‘numbers’ and information providing the ‘context around those numbers’. Since both are incomplete without each other, for the purpose of this blog we will treat them as the same.

Employee - Your Best Advertisement

The employee who works with the clients in one of the remote locations or answers customer queries over the phone or interacts with your customers behind the sales counter affects your business much more than any number of advertising and PR dollars you may spend on building your brand/image. So invest some part of that huge marketing/PR budget in training, nurturing that employee and keeping them happy so that they genuinely deliver that message across which you want your customer to get or feel.

A smiling employee proudly telling your customer – “We at our company believe in doing things the right way” - sends a much stronger, effective message that any billboard or TV ads can ever do. And always remember - it's a little difficult to fake the smile to the customer.

The Age Of Artists Sans Middlemen

The age of the privileged middlemen is over. All along the artist has been at the mercy of that privileged middleman to get their work to the audience. Be it be a publisher, an art gallery or a music records company – for years they have controlled who and what reaches the market. But the times have changed and so has the role of the middleman – from the controller to the facilitator.

The artist is the privileged one now – they can opt for a facilitator but it’s not mandatory. They just need their art to be good enough to reach the market. They can paint, create music or have their own comic strip – and even if they choose to go with the middlemen they can do it at their own terms.

Blowing Your Own Trumpet!!

Being good at your work counts but being able to showcase that work is equally important too. This is especially true when your job is your art or vice-versa – your art is your job.

Consider an artist who creates mind-blowing work in a dungeon but never displays it to anyone. If that art is also his livelihood he will never sell anything and soon run out of money and possibly cease to exist and so will his art.

Compare this to a scenario where a person creates good work (not low quality) and knows how to sell it. The good worker may get only half of what a mind-blowing artist would get (if he sold) but he will live to create more art, learn and improve upon it.

Not trying to undermine the importance of great work, but showcasing your work is part of the Genius. You may create the sharpest knives in the world but if you are not able to convince somebody to use them they will eventually rust and become useless.

The Genius not only does great work but takes pride in showcasing it equally well.

Inspiration From A Cardboard Arcade

There are only a few blogs that I truly read and follow like this and this. Mainly because instances of useful, interesting and really inspirational stuff on the internet are very few and far between like needles in a haystack; rest all is just clutter. Sometimes when you feel exasperated after of hours of surfing, sifting through the noise to find something worthwhile; you stumble upon something that is both heartwarming and inspirational.

This is the story of 9 year old Caine Monroy who created his own Game Arcade using cardboards in his father’s shop. I am not sure what made me feel good – the creative genius of the kid, his enterprise or the knowledge of the fact that he has managed to collect  $205997.2, when last checked, in donations for his effort. When even grown-ups feel reluctant to go ahead and start their own gig and follow their dreams, here’s a small kid who believed in his idea, persevered and worked hard.

Here’s to the kid in all of us – Let’s follow our dreams as they sure come true!!

Data Governance, Stewardship and Management

Data governance, stewardship and management are more often than not mentioned in the same breath but are all three the same? If not, what is the difference between the three? How to determine what function belongs to which area?

All three are closely related often with blurring boundaries and sometimes have overlapping functions and at the very least need to work closely with each other to reach their end goals. But still there is a need to understand the basic difference between the three to be able to perform whatever role you have, more effectively. Based on my understanding I will layout what each means and how they are related to each other at a very high level.

Data Management, I believe, encompasses the broadest scope of the three - governance and stewardship being the sub-functions. It encompasses everything related to the data that an organization has – right from definition, delivery, quality to security and access. As per DAMA Data Management Body of Knowledge (DAMA-DMBOK):

"Data management is the development, execution and supervision of plans, policies, programs and practices that control, protect, deliver and enhance the value of data and information assets.”

Options and Excuses

Does having more options mean more excuses and more failures?

Does having the comfort of knowing that even if you fail you have something else to fall back on, prevent you from giving a chance that you have your all?

Does having multiple options and the luxury of choosing what you like take away the killer instinct?

Is it the options or the attitude that determine whether you look for excuses for your failures or look to learn from it?

I know most of you would instantaneously say in unison it’s the attitude. But I am interested in understanding the role of availability of options in shaping a person’s behavior and attitude.

A professional who knows he is and deserves much better than what he is getting at his current job doesn’t do anything about it and continues at the same job, cribbing about it every other day because he has the option of staying back in an environment which he is not happy with but has known for years and hence gives him a sense of security.

How Can Personalization Add Value To Your Customer Service?

Recently I had two very different experiences even though I was delivered the same incentive for using the same service at the same business.

Scenario-1

The car rental company that I use gave me a loyalty card that would be punched every time I rent with them. Once I had taken five rentals, it was promised that the sixth one would be free. Since I rent quite often the D-day presented itself pretty soon enough. So I happily presented my card in anticipation of my free rental. The customer care representative Mr. A looked surprised at first, as if I was the only one ever to have achieved that feat but he was polite enough to say that the company would honor the offer and they would take care of it once I return the car.

I went ahead with my business and on the day of return, I handed the contract papers to another representative, she quickly made some entries on her computer and said your bill is ‘x’ dollars. I had to remind her that it was my sixth rental at their location and Mr. A had assured me, it’s free and will be taken care of at return. She appeared clueless and then informed that Mr. A was not in the office that day so she would check with him and take care of it as required.

Discussion: Do Indian IT companies need to be more innovative to remain successful in future?

This started as generic discussion on a recent article published in The Economic Times regarding relevance of Bangalore as the IT Hub in the future but very soon we were discussing relevance of innovation for Indian IT companies.

Me: Here is something that you might find interesting :)

Has Bangalore lost track of its success curve?  

@Varun: I beg to disagree partially with Mr. Debashish Roy.. I believe he is misled by what he has been watching on television in last 3-4months, and if I am not mistaken he would have been one of the first few to sell Infy shares after last quarter results were declared.. :) But everyone is entitled to his/her opinion.. So no further comments on his blog!! :)

Me: I don't agree with the entire piece either but I do agree with concentrating on Product versus the services part :)

What the Skype deal means for Microsoft?

Microsoft snapped an 8.5 billion USD deal to acquire Skype. The deal sure has raised a lot of eyebrows - what is Microsoft up to? How and where are they planning to use Skype? Is it a game-changer or is Skype doomed forever? I have a couple of observations regarding the deal but first the casual conversation that triggered the thought process.

Mansi: Microsoft paid 8.5 Billion USD for Skype? Did someone not tell them that they can download it from the website for free???

me:  Actually they want to put it on their website for everyone to download after shelling out some bucks instead of just free ;)

Mansi:  lol  I’ll be amazed if they get 50 bucks back out of 8.5 billion USD.

me:  yes, the deal has surprised everyone ..let's see what Microsoft has planned

Mansi:  yeah..Skype walo ki to nikal padi (Skype people hit upon a lottery though). Offices mein champagne chhalak rahi hogi (They must be enjoying they Champagne in their offices)