In the world of big data and analytics, “governance” has become a buzzword. The notion of governing data is laudable. Data is strategic, important, and, if mishandled, potentially compromising. It certainly needs to be protected.
Your data needs a custodial layer to make that happen, and governance would seem to provide that. Its name makes that almost self-explanatory.
But although governance does encompass that layer, it extends well beyond it. In its best implementations, data governance does more than establishing a defensive regime around data. Instead, it creates an environment that makes data highly available, trustworthy, and easily discoverable. In general, good data governance entices people in the organization to explore, query, and contribute data, and it supports efforts around digitalization and promoting data-driven practices.