Data Organization
Defining roles and responsibilities is a central component of successful data governance. Although the focus is often on implementing digitization projects, the organization of the data area should not be neglected. A clear structure is particularly important to enable the use of artificial intelligence and to ensure efficient collaboration.
Why do companies need data organization?
Define roles and responsibilities
Who has not only in the construction but also in the development of a data strategy What responsibilities? How can you describe the various roles and stakeholders? Once these questions have been clarified, many things can be derived from them, including dashboards but also the Data Governance.
Establish data governance
Not everyone in the company has the same view and idea of how key performance indicators are measured and what they mean. Data protection and compliance issues are just as difficult. This requires rules, affiliations and responsibilities. An important aspect of data organization!
Make decisions efficiently
In many other business areas, it is clear exactly who makes which decisions, when they happen and what the processes for this look like. With data, this is often neglected — because the topic has grown significantly in a very short period of time and there was no time to develop strategies. That is why setting up an organizational structure helps to make decisions even more efficient.
Hiring support and upskilling
Which skills are not yet available in the company? Which does the company need to take the next step towards data? Especially in the area of artificial intelligence, it is immensely important to find the right people who want to achieve great things together. We support you in selecting and training these personalities — but find out exactly who they need first!
This is how we proceed when optimizing data organization
From data audit to enable — that's how we work at The Data Institute!
Absorbing the status quo — the data audit
As a first step, we like to draw using a Data Audits on which data organization exists in the company, what exactly the organizational structure looks like, who has which roles and responsibilities and how this structure was created. There is more than just the distinction between centralized and decentralized organizations — data is often collected and used in many places that are not apparent at first glance.
Set target image
The next step is to talk to data stakeholders, product owners and management to find out what the company's goal is. This is not yet about the organization itself, but about the corporate goals that are to be achieved with data. Is it the use of artificial intelligence? Or increasing sales and reducing costs?
Development of the target organization chart
Now it's getting really fun: We're working out what the org chart should look like in the future. There is, of course, a difference between restructuring or optimizing the existing organizational structure and developing a future goal. In doing so, all roles related to data are considered across disciplines.
Implementation of data organization
We are now helping them to implement this new organization. Responsibilities and access may have to be redistributed, but the development of new dashboards is also often a necessary step that is now necessary and supports employees in their new roles.
Enablen
Simply putting someone in a new role is often not effective. The person must be able to arrive, receive the necessary resources and fully understand the new position, just like the people with whom they work in the new constellation. We help employees incorporate data into their corporate culture, use new tools and thus establish a new corporate culture with a focus on data.
Data organization in our framework
We always work with the organization framework, culture and architecture.
Because in our opinion, these three areas are the most important factors for successfully anchoring data in the company in the long term.
Data organization is therefore one of the three pillars that are inextricably linked and interdependent. As a company, you can choose a focus that best supports the company's goals in the short term. But it is important to always keep an eye on all areas and not to neglect any of the three pillars in order to generate long-term impact.
The Data Institute — the strong partner when using data organization
We want companies to quickly get an impact and see what they can do with data. At the same time, we have an overall view of the company and want to implement long-term strategies that enable employees to work with data independently.
What is a data audit anyway?
Our framework positions data organization, data architecture, and data culture on one level to ensure a comprehensive data strategy. The basis is an understanding of business processes. While the organization defines who is responsible for which aspects of the data, the culture describes how data is handled and the architecture describes which technical tools are used.
The close integration of these three areas creates use cases that serve as MVPs and make it possible to implement and optimize the data strategy step by step. Our goal is to enable employees to independently implement data-driven projects and thus make a lasting contribution to the company's success.
Who needs data organization?
In fact, a data organization needs every company that works with data and has more than one person who accesses this data.
Because this is where the first responsibilities and roles arise, which then also have an impact on data governance.
That is why it is necessary to set up a data organization even during a start-up; for companies that have already established themselves, it is important to regularly check the organization, identify blind spots and thus not only support employees, but also to act in compliance with GDPR and regulations. The data organization is therefore inextricably linked to the data strategy and achieving goals.
Who is involved in data organization?
The structure of the data organization must, of course, be specified by management. However, every company has unwritten rules, historically developed processes and responsibilities, but also outstanding employees and departments who have previously unseen skills.
That's why we at The Data Institute not only talk to management, but also to specialist departments to understand and assess their needs, abilities and talents. This is immensely important in order to set up and establish a functioning data organization in the company over the long term.
Case studies on the subjectData Organization
You can find suitable examples of our work on this topic in the following case studies:
Knowledge around Data Organization
In addition to case studies, we also have various blog articles on the topic:
Data news for pros
Want to know more? Then subscribe to our newsletter! Regular news from the data world about new developments, tools, best practices and events!
