How Much Is Poor Data Quality Costing You? What is the price of dodging due diligence?

The price tag of dodging due diligence around the health of your data goes beyond the monetary penalties.

We've seen this come to play in so many ways in recent years. More importantly, this past week as Citigroup made headline news to the global world. - US banking regulators fined Citigroup $400 million on Thursday for "longstanding failure" to fix its data and risk management system. https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/citigroup-slammed-400-mln-fine-longstanding-deficiencies-regulation-occ-fed-2020-10-1029660295#

We've seen time and time again the cost of poor data quality comes with a package – from regulatory fines, reputational risks, customer loyalty to missed opportunities. From your wallet to your relevance.

We've seen organizations that have previously built a strong reputation amongst their peer in the global market succumbed to this embarrassing humiliation.

The fact remains that despite continuous advocacy over the years around the urgent need for every organization to be intentional about the governance of its data; despite the glaring reality that the growth and survival of every organization are directly driven by the richness of insight or absence of the same in their data asset.

The messaging still falls on deaf ears with so many still thinking they can circumvent the needful around the treatment of their data.

We've all been singing the same mantra in the current global data-driven world. We're all echoing the fact that Data is the new oil, Data is golden…..etc. The reality is that many have failed to truly actualize the reality around the treatment of their data.

The question is – How can you call your data an asset when you're not rightfully treating it with ultra-care? How can you say data is your new oil when you're ignoring the needful due diligence and simply turning the same into a liability?

Your Data can only be an asset if it's insightful. Your Data can only be golden if it's trusted, business-ready, and working for you.

We're all making huge investments in the latest innovative technologies and initiatives that appear popular and viable to hit our bottom line as an organization on the surface. Yet ignoring the most critical foundational needs around the health of our data. We are fixated on investing in the downstream processes of our value chain instead of addressing our fundamental quality issues deeply rooted in the lack of governance around our data.

The regulatory space continues to be revved up and we can no longer wish it away as every organization simply need to embrace the fact that the regulations are here to stay for as long as many still defy the asks around the ethical creation, use, and engagement of their data.

To this effect, the puzzling question continues to linger on - why do so many good organizations often continue to fall into the trap of regulatory penalties before waking up to doing the right thing with their data? Why do an organization wait for regulatory shaming before doing the rightful around their data?

These will continue to be unanswered questions with so many organizations in recent years repeatedly being slapped with hefty fines due to non-compliance year after year.

You've heard me say too many times that every organization has to be deliberate and intentional in the treatment of the health of its data. Your proactive decision around your data will position you ahead of the curve if you treat it right. The same will humiliate you and render your organization irrelevant if you choose to circumvent the obvious.

While regulatory penalties are not cheap. The reality is that the price of ungoverned data is beyond the monetary fines as this could be the end of an organization's relevance and reputation in the marketplace.

There are simply no more excuses for organizations to sit on the fence around the governance of their data asset to fulfill all their competing data demands.

Latest trends in cloud technology have even made it easier for organizations trying to pivot from a regulatory led governance to proactive and profit-led governance where they can simply have it all using governance to fulfill their competing demands without having to choose one over the other.

With the advent of cloud technology, organizations now have a great opportunity to create an amazon like data experience for their competing data demands by positioning their governed data as service for both current and future data needs.

What Are the Regulators Asking For?

The truth is that the regulators are not asking for anything beyond the ordinary. Regulators are demanding due diligence out of our data.

If we take a closer look at most of the regulatory mandates. The asks are simply call-outs that can help further an organization's growth aspirations if rightfully positioned. Our regulators are asking for privacy; our regulators are demanding customer centricity; they're requesting ethical use of customer data; they're demanding better intimacy with our customer journey; they're asking for better, fact-led decision support on customer engagements and taking calculated risks backed with trusted data to support our decisions.

Simply put - Our regulators are asking for the following:

 ■ Accurate and reliable data

 ■  End-to-end understanding of our data flow (data lineage)

 ■  Proactive & sustainable resolutions of all data issues

 ■ Consistent and accurate reporting across all regulations

 ■ Active and complete monitoring of all customer transactions

 ■  Proper and ethical use of customer data.

These callouts and many are simply natural boosters for every organization's data maturity when rightfully harness.

 So, how can organizations liberate themselves from continuous regulatory penalties?

There are a lot of ways every organization can begin to embrace the regulatory landscape and compliance with current and potential future mandates.

     ● Foremost, an organization must learn to position proactive governance of its data as the foundational bedrock for all its data initiatives.

     ●They must learn to leverage previous investments in their regulatory fulfillment to further other strategic goals to drive growth and business values.

    ● Every organization must find the right champion leaders to lead its data initiatives.

    ● Advocacy around stewardship of an organization's data as an asset must be engrained into the fabric of the organization's culture.

    ● Every organization must continuously measure its success relative to the health of its data. i.e. Trustworthiness, business-readiness, speed, and agility to respond to business needs.

In a nutshell, I've said so many times that regulatory compliance should never be the key driver for any organization to invest in the health and wellness of its data. Customer loyalty should be at the heart of our investment in data at all times.

Simply put, every organization has to be intentional about the quality of its data asset in their quest for both regulatory compliance and innovative edge for growth or other ROIs.

Interested in learning more on how to avoid repeated regulatory penalties and successfully manage your competing Data Demands at the same time? Book a Free Call with me to discuss your challenges and we can explore simple strategies to actualize success with your data.

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