The challenge for many Financial Services Institutions (FSIs) is that the format, usage, and complexity of data capture, propagation, and integration have significantly evolved, and the risks associated with poor data quality and governance even more so. Data must be accurate, intelligent, trustworthy, and connected, according to IDC Financial Insights Asia/Pacific report, titled Data as an Asset: The New Challenges of Data Governance and How Asia/Pacific Financial Services Should Respond. The report illustrates the requirements, benefits, and methods of comprehensive data governance for FSIs.
?Data will not maintain its value unless governed properly to keep the characteristics that make it accurate, intelligent, trustworthy, and connected. Metadata, data lineage, data source, and other characteristics for high-quality digital data must be defined and maintained continuously. Ultimately, these characteristics create the foundations for the trusted use of data throughout the enterprise,? says Michael Araneta, Associate Vice President at IDC Financial Insights Asia/Pacific.
Other characteristics about the data must be tracked and interpreted correctly every time it is used, aside from ensuring that data is accurate. Questions including “How and where was the data sourced? How can we validate it is accurate? Has the customer given us consent to use or share the data?” are just a few of the requirements that must be known about the data. The Digital Data Quality Characteristics spectrum defines the characteristics of high-quality digital data and highlights the role data governance plays in creating and maintaining it (see Figure below).
Figure: Digital Data Quality Characteristic Spectrum
Source: IDC Perspective: Data as an Asset: Capabilities to Deliver Data-to-Digital
?Although previous data governance approaches have improved data quality and understanding, the risk of having any data inaccuracies or biases in today’s digital world can be fatal for a FSI. Unless strong data governance using a data intelligence platform is in place, Data-to-Digital initiatives are likely to be problematic, costly, and slow to deliver,? says Steve Shipley, Adjunct CIO at IDC Financial Insights Asia/Pacific.
The IDC Perspective highlights the need for and benefit of strong data governance to deliver Data to Digital. Although most financial services institutions (FSIs) have invested in, and have used some form of, data governance, an integrated and holistic data intelligence platform for Data-to-Digital governance is now required to handle digital data volumes and complexities.