Sometimes it seems like data governance and security is everyone’s and no one’s job. When that’s the case, there can be cracks in your data governance and security posture, and that can open the door to data risk. One way to overcome this is to ensure that the entire company is supportive of the initiative. But how?  

As part of our Expert Panel Series, we asked some experts in the modern data ecosystem how data governance and security leaders can better engage with the rest of the organization.

Here’s what we heard….

“Data governance is not a joyful exercise."

"If there is data governance needed, there is a pain, threat or a business opportunity..."

"Implementing data governance requires changes in processes, roles and responsibilities ... and by definitions humans are reluctant to change..."

"So my key advice to data governance and security leaders is to emphasize the WHY data governance is a must, why it is needed by the organization and make sure you have a strong change management plan in place, not just tools to roll out!”
- Damien Van Steenberge, Managing Partner, Codex Consulting

“I think the best way for data governance leaders to engage the rest of the organization is to show them a world where it's easy for data consumers to access data and then show them the power and value of the data they're able to access. Show them how it makes their job easier, better, faster.”
- Chris Struttmann, Founder and CTO, ALTR

“Data governance and security initiatives can fall flat if they are perceived as top-down mandates that are out of touch with the work that’s being done. The best way to get buy-in from across the organization is to tie data governance and security initiatives with use case-based deployment. When stakeholders can see the positive impact and relevance of new technology or practices, they won’t just be more engaged – they will become champions.”
- Pat Dionne, Founder and CEO, Passerelle

“From an ETL point of view, it’s ensuring that data engineers are given the freedom to automate their pipelines which ensure they are adhering to governance policies. Too much process in this area can slow them down. They want to just run and know that it’s all going to fall into place.”
- John Bagnall, Sr Product Manager, Matillion

Watch out for the next installment of our Expert Panel Series on LinkedIn!