It’s kind of been sitting in the corner until now, but its voice will be heard ever louder. We are speaking about Data Governance!

Data Governance was actually simple in the past. All our information systems were in-house and terms like cloud or hybrid architecture did not exist. The architects knew exactly what was where and where to “reach”. What’s more, systems were only implemented and updated by waterfall projects. Thanks to this, we knew in advance after completing the solution analysis and design what the system would look like in the end and where the data would be stored (if they did not remain only on paper). We then controlled very strictly who would have access to them.

But there was a catch. Data Governance may have been simpler, but it rarely worked. Its application brought costs but hardly visible benefits. Yet these are the main goal. Just because something is easier in a certain situation doesn’t mean that it will be done this way or even better.

The revolution is coming

Conversely, the present is a difficult time for Data Governance. Hybrid architecture with clouds and systems on a local infrastructure is challenging to document, not to mention the application of Data Governance rules. Moreover, individual systems are updated very quickly and - in the cloud - often without our input or knowledge. Everything is digitalized and the volume of data is growing exponentially. Everyone wants to have access to as much data as possible.

And it’s going to get worse. Cloud, hybrid architecture, agile methodologies, democratization of data access and its digitization are just the tip of the iceberg. Data Fabric and Data Mesh concepts are knocking on the door. And they are bringing a revolution with them. Therefore, if you haven’t tackled Data Governance yet, it’s time to start. Don’t miss the chance to include it in your transformation projects. Adaptation to new technologies, methodologies and architectures awaits you anyway.

What will you get?

1. You now have an unprecedented opportunity to leverage the budgets of transformational cloud projects and “park” something extra in them. Something that would be difficult to implement individually, with a lot of effort and little added value.
2. Without applied solutions for data quality management, data flow tracking, master data and metadata management, data ownership, data dictionaries, etc., it is harder to implement agile projects, democratize data access and effectively use new cloud technologies.

In short, the application of Data Governance is a prerequisite for reaping the benefits of modernization of the IT world while maintaining the order, quality, transparency and reliability of data (or the information contained therein).

AI as a helper

Are there adequate tools available for all this in the cloud? Definitely. Traditional providers of Data Governance tools are migrating their solutions into the cloud, and some are even now discontinuing the development of their on-premise versions and have only the cloud on their roadmap. This is because the cloud offers a different dimension of development and functionalities for Data Governance that are not available outside of it (or will not be in the future). The most important thing is certainly artificial intelligence, which will be a significant help.

[.infobox]The cloud and other innovations in the IT world simply add complications to Data Governance because they increase complexity. However, the transformation of the IT world into the cloud is also an opportunity to implement projects that have been on the sidelines until now. Indeed, it is a necessity, because the new IT world needs functional Data Governance even more than the previous one. We believe it’s going to be fun - cloud-based Data Governance technologies will offer a whole different set of possibilities…[.infobox]