The logical next step to treating “Data as an Asset”
We consistently preach one thing to our clients. That is, the organization should first treat “Data as an Asset” to get value from it. Today, organizations understand what this means and have started to take the right step(s) towards it. Now, the clients want to know what the next step is in realizing the value from these (data) assets.
Before I get on the logical next step, let me clear the air around the buzzwords “data literacy” and “data democratization” that seem to be creating more confusion. These buzzwords can be categorized as enablers, catalysts, and/or supporting components to realize the value of data at the enterprise level. Just because everyone in the organization has the required metadata about the data they are dealing with and understands how to explore & interpret data, the value is not going to be realized. They might even know how to leverage the data to monetize it but might not be at the right place/level to get it to fruition, or the organization might not have the right processes in place to bring such insights to light. This is where the logical next step of treating Data as a “Product” comes in.
When an organization starts to productize the data (i.e., treat Data as a Product), the data gets a domain flavor. With the domain flavor, the organization can now assign domain-data ownership to teams that are closer to a particular data and empower them with the ability to not just define the metadata, but also control sharing, quality, harmonization, usage, etc. This is indirectly enabling data democratization and data literacy in the least invasive, cost-effective, and quick manner within the organization.
Let us take this one step further and apply the product mindset to the (domain) data. When the data domain owners treat data as a product, they will start to look at their data from an end consumer’s point of view (i.e., data use cases) and ensure the data is usable and valuable. This data product when accessed by various teams within the organization will lead to insights, actions, and monetization opportunities.
Let me know what your thoughts are on this.
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