How to Start a Data Governance Program: These are interesting times, and recent trends show greater need for data governance

Problems like this are remarkably common across the corporate landscape. Data governance maturity models generally have five levels and are modeled on Software Engineering Institute's Capability Maturity Model. A recent survey sponsored by Kalido found that only 10 percent of organizations have been able to move their data governance programs beyond the lowest two levels of data governance maturity. This shows most companies haven't gotten very far in their data governance efforts or are just getting started. 2. Make sure everyone realizes that although technology is important, it will at best be an enabler. It's not a silver bullet. You can't just implement data governance technology. You're going to need a comprehensive program involving organizational changes, process redesign and intensive work on information quality (and yes, some technology). Don't let challenges dissuade you - in the long run, not tackling data governance is far worse, since your enterprise is at risk of being a 2011 horror story. So dig in and start the hard work of governing your enterprise data. Don't forget, if it's done properly, data governance can produce new revenue, cost savings and more efficient processes for your company.