IT is the bank manager

As I was presenting some practical techniques to deal with data quality at the Accion Labs innovation summit in Kuala Lumpur this year last week, I was enumerating some commonly held misconceptions about Data Quality. What made the top of the list is at the heart of many an issue that we’re going to have to deal with. As the son of a bank manager, I could not be helped but to give a banking analogy. So, here it goes.

IT departments do not own all of the data, they just manage it.

IT departments act as the custodians of data, safeguarding, managing, and optimizing the use of data to drive business value and ensure operational integrity.

But, the data belongs to its customers – the owners of the data are always the business functions.

Let’s expand on this:

1. Safeguarding Data (Security and Compliance): Just as bankers are entrusted with safeguarding customers' money, ensuring it is protected from theft, fraud, and other risks, IT departments are tasked with the security of data. This involves implementing robust cybersecurity measures, data encryption, access controls, and compliance with data protection regulations (such as GDPR or HIPAA). IT ensures that data is not only secure from external threats but also from potential internal breaches, maintaining the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data. But, who can and cannot see the data is something the business needs to tell.
2. Optimizing Data Usage (Data Management and Accessibility): Bankers not only keep your money safe; they also offer services to ensure your money is working for you, through interest-bearing accounts, investments, and loans. Similarly, IT departments manage data in a way that it remains accessible, reliable, and usable for the business. This includes data storage solutions, data quality management, and the implementation of data catalogs and metadata management practices. IT ensures that data can be easily accessed by authorized users, making it a valuable asset for decision-making and operational processes. But, what a term means from the business context, which value is good vs not, what is appropriate value vs inappropriate value is something business needs to educate IT.
3. Facilitating Transactions (Data Integration and Flow): In the banking world, seamless transactions are a must, whether it's transferring money between accounts, paying bills, or receiving payments. In parallel, IT departments facilitate the smooth integration and flow of data across different systems, platforms, and departments. Through the implementation of APIs, ETL processes, and data integration tools, IT ensures that data moves seamlessly across the organization, supporting workflows, analytics, and digital transformation initiatives. But, which system is the right place to pull data from for something, which system wins when there is a conflict is something business needs to tell.
4. Innovating for Growth (Leveraging Data for Insights and Innovation): Banks use financial data to offer personalized services, innovative financial products, and investment advice to help customers grow their wealth. Similarly, IT departments leverage data analytics, business intelligence, and machine learning algorithms to extract insights from data, informing strategy, innovation, and competitive advantage. By analyzing trends, patterns, and anomalies, IT enables businesses to make informed decisions, identify new opportunities, and tailor services to meet customer needs. Business must however give feedback as to which products make sense and which do not. There needs to be a continuous flow of information.
5. Ensuring Regulatory Compliance (Adherence to Data Laws and Standards): Just as banks must navigate a complex landscape of financial regulations, IT departments are responsible for ensuring that data management practices comply with an ever-evolving array of data protection laws, industry standards, and ethical guidelines. This involves regular audits, compliance checks, and updates to data handling practices, ensuring that the organization remains on the right side of the law and maintains its reputation for data governance. But, business needs to follow the rules to stay compliant. If someone exports PII in an excel file and prints it out on a community printer and forgets to collect the printout, then blaming IT won't help.
6. Educating and Advising (Data Literacy and Policy Development): Finally, just as bankers advise customers on financial best practices, IT departments play a crucial role in educating the workforce on data security, privacy, and effective data handling practices. They develop and enforce data governance policies, conduct training sessions, and serve as advisors to ensure that all employees understand their roles in protecting and leveraging the organization's data assets. But business needs to use these rules for any such policies to add value.

Remember IT do not own all of the data, they just manage it. They of course have data that they generate and own. But that is not the entirety of the data.