Profitable data management requires IT managers to do preliminary work. A webcast by Computerwoche explains what these are and how they succeed. This also offers insights into the IDG market study “Data Management / Data Quality 2020”, in which around 350 decision-makers took part. Steve Oluborode, Solution Engineer at Tableau Software, will discuss the results and other insights with Martin Bayer from the Computerwoche editorial team.

Data management – a topic with many aspects. Perhaps the most visible – and most annoying – was experienced by Oluborode himself often enough: In his early years on the job, he had the experience of sitting over the same dates with two representatives from different departments. “Afterwards we had three different sales figures,” he sighs.

A survey of the webcast participants shows that more than one in two (52 percent) sees themselves as moderately prepared for future challenges. 41 percent cannot assess how relevant data and its evaluation are for their own business. Overall, not many attribute themselves to a mature data culture.

But there is a lot to be expected for companies, for example in terms of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, says Oluborode. His assessment: “The companies have understood that data is becoming more and more important. Only in terms of implementation is there still a bit of a problem!” At the same time, a connection between high data quality and company growth can be established.

Ultimately, every company has to determine which criteria are important. The prerequisites are the same in every company: a central platform, end-to-end functions, intelligent mechanisms. “Anomalies and dependencies have to be shown,” emphasizes Oluborode. He also names data governance, usage analyzes, central sources and transparency as conditions. “And I need the data in a holistic context,” he emphasizes.

The role model is certainly a company like Amazon. “The top five don’t produce anything, they’re just based on data,” says Oluborode. Of course, this cannot simply be transferred to Germany with its industry and its car manufacturers. But regardless of the industry, all companies must create acceptance and trust in handling data and “speak a common language”. They achieve this by verifying and certifying their data at a central location in order to create a single “version of truth”. “In the analysis itself, I need to know: when was this number updated? How is it made up?” Explains the expert.

According to the IDG survey, over 80 percent keep their data largely or completely centrally. However, decentralized data is still linked manually by 42 percent of the participants. Most of the time, the data is used for process optimization (47 percent). Only 27 percent of the survey participants develop new data-based business models from them.

One of the viewers speaks up and wants to know how edge computing should be assessed. “We’re seeing more and more data sources and formats, it’s getting difficult to keep track of things,” says Oluborode. “People wonder if they are using the right source and the most current data.” If the impact analysis, data determination and data history are visible, this creates trust. Because not only is there more data, it is also gaining momentum. Oluborode knows an interesting use case for this: a mobile phone provider outside the EU collected data and entered it in an Excel list. “You couldn’t see anything in the table,” recalls the expert, “only when the data was made visible was it possible, for example, to gain insight into when a person was where.”

Tableau Software has developed a blueprint and guides for data management. A data culture has five characteristics: First, trust, which is closely related to security. Second, it’s about commitment, in this case awareness of the value of the data, and thirdly, the crux of talent – which unfortunately often means a shortage of skilled workers. Point four regulates the data release and point five describes the mentality. Oluborode concludes: “You have to see the data as a catalyst!”

Watch the webcast here