Clarke Patterson
Data Quality and Big Data
In the world of big data, getting access to data and making sense of it is often times a more important consideration than managing sheer volume itself. Companies that are successful in unlocking true value from big data open themselves up to a world of insight for better understanding of things like customer preferences, satisfaction and regional purchasing differences. Doing this obviously is often harder than it seems due to the variety of information itself, leading to standardization and duplication issues. Ownership is often an issue as well, with departmental lines being the most common constraint to sharing important data across the enterprise. (more…)
Reading The Tea Leaves: Predictions For Data Quality In 2012
Following up from my previous post on 2011 reflections, it’s now time to take a look at the year ahead and consider what key trends will likely impact the world of data quality as we know it. As I mentioned in my previous post, we saw continued interest in data quality across all industries and I expect that trend to only continue to pick up steam in 2012. Here are three areas in particular that I foresee will rise to the surface: (more…)
Reflecting On Data Quality In 2011
With just a few days remaining in what has been an eventful year, I thought I’d take some time to reflect on the world of data quality as I’ve observed it over the past twelve months. While the idea of data quality improvement in general didn’t change much, the way that companies are viewing and approaching it most certainly have. Here are three areas that seemed to come up quite frequently:
Data governance awareness grew
In thinking about all the customer interactions that I was involved in throughout the year, it’s hard to come up with one where the topic of data governance didn’t surface. Whereas before, the topic of data governance only seemed to come up for companies with more mature data management organizations, now it seems everyone is looking to build a governance framework in conjunction with their data quality efforts. Furthermore, while previously the conversation was largely driven by IT, now it’s both IT and business stakeholders that are looking for answers to how data governance can help them drive better business outcomes. In increasingly competitive market conditions, we can only expect this trend to continue. Whether it’s focused on increasing revenue, driving out cost or managing risk and compliance, data quality with data governance is where companies of all sizes are turning to create and sustain a differentiated edge. Trends like big data will only make this need more acute. (more…)
Data is the Answer, Now What’s the Question? Hint: It’s The Key to Optimizing Enterprise Applications
Data quality improvement isn’t really anything new; it’s been around for some time now. Fundamentally the goal of cleansing, standardizing and enriching enterprise data through data quality processes remains the same. What’s different now, however, is that in an increasingly competitive marketplace and in difficult economic times, a complete enterprise data quality management approach can separate the leaders from the laggards. With a sound approach to enterprise data quality management, organizations reap the benefits of turning enterprise data into a key strategic asset. This helps to increase revenue, eliminate costs and reduce risks. Using the right solution, organizations can leverage data in a way never possible before, holistically and proactively, by addressing data quality issues when and where they arise. Doing so ensures key IT initiatives, like business intelligence, master data management, and enterprise applications, deliver on their promises of better business results. (more…)
Is There Such A Thing As A Data Governance Crystal Ball?
Imagine you have a crystal ball. With it, you can look into the future and see where your business will be next year, whether or not that key project will be a success or failure. You could take corrective actions today that would help ensure that success. Life would be great.
Unfortunately, we don’t have a crystal ball so we have to embark on projects not knowing with any degree of certainty whether they will succeed or fail. Fortunately, we can increase our chances of success by conducting some due diligence which helps uncover otherwise unforeseen twists in the road. All too often, however, the due diligence step is left out and projects more often than not fail. (more…)
(Data) Champions Are Everywhere
I recently had the opportunity to meet with the board of directors for a large distribution company here in the U.S. On the table for discussion were data quality and data governance, and how a focus on both could help the organization gain competitive advantage in the market. While I was happy to see that this company had tied data quality and data governance to help meet their corporate objectives, that’s not what caught my attention. Instead, what impressed me the most was how the data quality and data governance champion had effectively helped the rest of the board see that there WAS a direct link, and that with careful focus they could drive better business outcomes than they could without a focus on data at all. As it turns out, the path to success for the champion was to focus on articulating the link between trusted data — governed effectively — and the company’s ability to excel financially, manage costs, limit its risk exposure and maintain trust with its customers. (more…)
Reflections On Gartner’s 2011 Magic Quadrant For Data Quality Tools
Gartner recently released their 2011 Magic Quadrant for Data Quality Tools and I’m happy to announce that Informatica is positioned in the Leaders’ quadrant. We believe our position is a testament to the fact that customers like Station Casinos and U.S. Xpress continue to turn to Informatica to solve their most critical data quality challenges.
The publishing of the Magic Quadrant is often a great opportunity to reflect on the state of the data quality market. It should come as no surprise that data quality as a business imperative isn’t going away any time soon. We are continuing to see customers looking for help and expertise in solving a wide range of data quality problems, largely associated with data governance initiatives, master data management (MDM), business intelligence and application modernization. And the association of data quality in these areas is only getting stronger. (more…)
Informatica Data Quality 9.1: Discover, Profile And Cleanse – Oh My!
Today is an exciting day for Informatica as we go live with the launch of Informatica 9.1. With this new release we are further extending our platform vision to bring to market industry leading data integration, MDM and data quality capabilities.
With the launch of Informatica 9.1, we’ll be introducing new capabilities aimed at making the process of managing data quality that much easier. Here’s a sneak peak at what’s in store: (more…)
Public Opinion And Data Quality: A Lesson In Sustained Data Quality Improvement
In the U.S., and perhaps around the world, the events of a couple of weeks ago are truly memorable. As is often the case, when significant politically oriented shifts occur, the discussion of public opinion towards those in charge rises to the surface. The past couple of weeks, of course, are no exception. In scanning through the various media outlets, I came across an interesting read regarding the impact of such events on presidential public opinion. Not surprisingly, history shows that immediately after a significant positively impactful event, public opinion ratings for the “Commander in Chief” surge. This is due in large part to the general public essentially offering a reward or pat on the back for a job well done. People, for the most part, lose sight of what it was that caused them to not give a glowing report card in the first place, change their tune, and come to the belief that perhaps they were in fact wrong. Over time, however, we see that this point of view doesn’t last. Again, as history shows us, a short period of time after the bump in favorable public opinion the polls slowly drop back to levels they were before the significant event occurred. Essentially a one off win isn’t enough to sustain long term improvement in public opinion so more must be done.
Data Quality And MDM As A Foundation For Data Governance
I recently returned from the 2011 MDM and Data Governance Summit in London, England. During my time there, it was interesting to see how the subject of data governance is really resonating across not only industries like banking and telecommunications but also across geographic lines. In Europe, much like in North America, data governance is top of mind for organizations both large and small.
After attending many sessions on the topic, it’s clear that most view data governance as the process of aligning people, processes and technology. So whether it was a vendor or a systems integrator talking on the subject, all seemed to agree that this alignment was key for making data governance a reality. (more…)
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