What Is Data Enablement? Transforming Data into Value

Did you know that data-driven companies are 23 times more likely to top their competitors in customer acquisition, about 19 times more likely to stay profitable, and nearly seven times more likely to retain customers? (Forbes) Becoming a data-driven organization involves many different efforts, with one of the most important being data enablement. 

What is data enablement?

Data enablement makes data accessible, usable, and valuable. Its purpose is to drive better decision-making and outcomes. It involves creating an ecosystem where people can easily find, understand, and trust data, enabling them to use it effectively for their unique needs.

Key aspects of data enablement include:

• Data accessibility: Ensures data is available to the right people at the right time (with the right compliance guardrails), often through a centralized repository like a data catalog.

• Data governance: Implements policies and frameworks to manage data integrity, security, and compliance.

• Data literacy: Educates teams on how to understand, analyze, and use data effectively.

• Self-service analytics: Empowers users to access and analyze data independently without needing technical expertise.

• Data quality: Ensures that the data used is accurate, complete, and reliable.

Companies that have successfully launched data enablement programs democratize data usage and break down silos. This allows employees across departments to leverage data to drive innovation, improve operations, and make informed decisions.

Data enablement is also crucial for creating a data-driven culture within an organization. 

In Alation’s Data Maturity Model, data enablement is focused on assigning data responsibilities, publicizing training materials, and fostering analytics skill development across teams of all shapes and sizes. Securing leadership commitment, developing a strategic plan, and tracking progress are essential steps that cannot be overstated for ensuring the successful implementation of a data enablement program. By embracing data enablement, your organization can unlock smarter decision-making and drive business value.

How data stewards support data enablement

A core component of a data enablement program is ensuring that data assets are properly assigned to responsible parties. One effective approach is to designate data stewards for each critical data asset or domain. These stewards play a vital role in maintaining data quality, ensuring security, and upholding governance standards, serving as the key overseers of the organization’s data resources. 

To ensure accountability, the roles and responsibilities of data stewards should be clearly defined. These responsibilities typically include managing data dictionaries, overseeing access permissions, and ensuring compliance with established data governance policies. By having a clear governance framework in place, data stewards can effectively manage data assets, ensuring they are used properly and securely across the organization. They can also ensure that high-value data is easily found, accessed, and understood by those who need it. 

In addition to assigning data stewards, it's crucial to establish ongoing communication and collaboration between these stewards and other stakeholders within the organization. Regular check-ins, updates, and cross-functional meetings can help align the goals of the data enablement program with broader business objectives. 

This collaboration fosters a culture of shared responsibility for data, where not only the stewards but also other team members understand the importance of data quality, security, and governance. Furthermore, providing continuous training and resources for data stewards ensures they stay informed about evolving best practices and regulatory changes, enabling them to maintain the integrity and value of the organization's data assets over time.

Best practices for data enablement: promoting data literacy

A key aspect of data enablement is tied to data literacy. This involves ensuring that training and guidance materials are not only available but also actively publicized and utilized across the organization. Start by creating a comprehensive training curriculum that addresses essential data skills, tools, and best practices tailored to different roles. Hosting regular training sessions, workshops, and webinars can educate employees on how to use, analyze, and interpret data effectively. Making these events interactive and incorporating fun elements where possible can significantly increase engagement.

To support ongoing learning, make detailed documentation (such as user manuals, FAQs, and how-to guides for data tools and processes) readily accessible. Including interactive elements like video tutorials, quizzes, and hands-on exercises can further enhance knowledge retention and make learning more engaging. Leveraging a platform, such as Alation, for onboarding and storing process documentation can streamline access and encourage usage of data within the data intelligence platform itself. Additionally, raising awareness through internal marketing campaigns—using newsletters, emails, and social media channels—can highlight the availability of these resources and emphasize the importance of data literacy.

Beyond creating and publicizing these training resources, it’s also essential to foster a culture of continuous learning within the organization. Encourage employees to view data literacy as an evolving skill set, with regular refreshers and advanced training sessions offered to keep pace with new tools, techniques, and industry trends. Additionally, gathering feedback through surveys or focus groups can help refine the curriculum, ensuring it remains relevant and effective. This approach not only improves data proficiency across the board but also instills a sense of ownership and empowerment in employees, driving a stronger commitment to data-driven decision-making.

Ensuring the success of your data enablement program

Because data enablement effectively democratizes data, making it more accessible, another crucial element is upskilling employees in data and analytics. In other words, employees need unique education to best take advantage of the self-service analytics environment you’ve fostered. 

Consider all employees as potential data users who require some level of training to fully unlock the value of your data. Regular assessments can help gauge the current data literacy levels across the organization and pinpoint where skill gaps exist. Based on these assessments, you can prioritize precise training, ensuring that employees receive targeted education specific to their needs.

Incorporating data and analytics skills into professional development plans is essential, as it encourages employees to pursue relevant certifications and courses. Establishing mentorship programs can also be highly effective, where experienced data professionals guide less experienced colleagues in developing their skills. Recognition programs can further reinforce a culture of learning by celebrating individuals or teams that excel in data utilization and analytics. Together, these strategies contribute to a data-driven workforce capable of making smarter decisions and driving organizational success.

How should each job function leverage data? To ensure each individual can use data to meet the unique demands of their role, organizations should consider offering personalized learning paths that cater to varying levels of data proficiency. Not every employee needs to become a data scientist, but each individual should possess a baseline understanding of how data impacts their role and the larger business. 

Personalized training programs can be tailored based on department, role, or experience level, ensuring that employees receive relevant education without feeling overwhelmed. Moreover, creating a feedback loop between employees and leadership can help fine-tune training initiatives over time, allowing the program to adapt to emerging business needs and technological advancements. This continuous, evolving approach to upskilling ensures that the workforce remains agile and capable of leveraging data in ways that propel the organization forward, solidifying data enablement as a core business strategy.

To successfully drive data enablement, it's essential to assign clear data stewardship roles, make training materials widely accessible and engaging, and foster a commitment to continuous upskilling across the organization. By implementing these strategies, you can create a data-driven culture where all employees, regardless of their role, contribute to unlocking the full value of your data. For these reasons, investing in data enablement is key to smarter decision-making and long-term business success.

Ready to empower your team with the tools and skills they need to thrive in a data-centric world? Start by assessing where you feel your organization is in its data culture journey by taking the Alation Data Culture Maturity Assessment.