Unlocking Business Value with Data Governance: Key Trends and Strategies

Establishing a solid data governance program is no longer a luxury—it's a necessity. For organizations striving to harness data's full potential, data governance enables better decision-making, ensures compliance, and delivers operational efficiency. Yet, many businesses still struggle to implement governance initiatives effectively. 

Getting people onboard with the change is a key first step. Leaders face a challenge in the common perception that data governance is more about control than enablement. For this reason, Michelle Hoiseth, former CDO of Parexel, took great care in messaging governance: "We were very careful about using language around data enablement, not data governance,” she shares. “It’s controlled in service to the aims of the business... if we failed to bring them along on the data story, they were not going to succeed." The key is to position data governance as an enabler of business outcomes, not a bureaucratic hurdle.

In this blog, we’ll uncover key trends and challenges in the data governance landscape today, and offer advice for navigating these challenges from data leaders who have taken this journey before (also available as a podcast episode here). Let’s dive in!

Early stages of data governance: Establishing foundations

Many organizations are at the beginning stages of their data governance journey, focusing on basic principles, lightweight solutions, and the groundwork for broader initiatives. This phase can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be.

Bob Seiner, a leading data governance consultant, emphasizes the importance of starting small: “Governance doesn’t have to be top-down. You can leverage things that already exist within your environment... When you build governance into what people do, rather than making it feel over and above, that’s when you’ve won the game.”

Organizations should focus on integrating governance into existing workflows rather than creating new layers of oversight. Start by identifying critical data assets and the policies needed to protect and manage them effectively. From there, build momentum by gradually expanding governance efforts.

Challenges in prioritization, resource allocation, and executive sponsorship

One of the most common roadblocks for data governance initiatives is the lack of prioritization and resource allocation. Many executives see governance as secondary to other business activities, which can lead to underfunding and insufficient support.

However, leadership buy-in is crucial for the success of any governance program. Steve Pimblett, former CDO of The Very Group, suggests that positioning data governance as a driver of business value is key: "We set ourselves up as a team with a mission... We communicate the value we help create by asking, ‘What's the action you’re looking to take?’ and aligning data governance with that.”

By framing governance in terms of business outcomes, data leaders can secure ongoing executive sponsorship. Ensuring that governance initiatives are aligned with larger business goals will make it easier to justify the necessary investment in time and resources.

The shift to holistic data management

Leaders can also clarify the value of governance as improving every part of the data management lifecycle. Today, data governance is increasingly being integrated with other critical data management processes like data quality, lineage, and observability. Increasingly, organizations are seeing that governance isn’t just about protecting data—it’s about ensuring its usefulness across the organization.

Jennifer Belissent, Principal Data Strategist at Snowflake, highlights the shift: “Data governance extends across the life cycle. It’s not just about security or privacy, but ensuring that the right people have access to data and can use it to deliver value to the organization.”

By adopting a holistic approach to data governance, businesses can break down silos and foster greater collaboration between IT, data teams, and business units. This integration helps organizations maintain high data quality while making data more accessible and actionable.

Centralized metadata management and data catalogs

As data environments grow more complex, centralized metadata management and data catalogs are becoming essential to effective governance. Metadata provides context about data, making it easier to find, understand, and use. Behavioral metadata in particular, which shares how data is used by other people within an organization, is an especially valuable tool in that it provides context, so newcomers can comprehend data and use it more effectively. 

Prakash Jaganathan, Senior Director of Enterprise Data Platforms at Discover, explains: “Metadata enables the automation needed to build data pipelines faster and monitor data quality.” With a data catalog, Jaganathan was able to accelerate the development and delivery of data pipelines from 30 to just 2 days. 

Metadata catalogs allow organizations to centralize knowledge about their data assets, making it easier for teams to collaborate and derive insights. By leveraging active metadata, businesses can not only manage their data more effectively but also enable faster, more informed decision-making.

Demonstrating business value: Integrating governance with broader data initiatives

Ultimately, the success of any data governance program hinges on its ability to demonstrate real business value. Many organizations are integrating governance with broader analytics and data management initiatives to show tangible results.

Francesco Marzoni, CDAO of Ingka Group, has implemented the FAIR data principles (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable) to drive value: “FAIR data allows you to build stories around how each characteristic of data... [and having that] one-to-one link with how you unlock value for your organization.”

By aligning governance efforts with business objectives, organizations can better communicate the value of their data initiatives. This approach not only improves stakeholder engagement but also ensures that governance is seen as a critical enabler of business success.

Conclusion

Data governance is not an isolated initiative—it’s a strategic function that supports long-term business success. By building a strong foundation, securing executive sponsorship, overcoming challenges in prioritization, and integrating governance with broader data initiatives, organizations can unlock the full potential of their data.

Centralized metadata management and data catalogs are vital tools for enhancing discoverability, transparency, and compliance. As businesses continue to evolve, the integration of data governance into everyday operations will be critical to driving both operational efficiency and business value.

Learn how a data catalog can help you master data governance. Book a demo with us today.