Why Is Robust Data Governance Critical for Buy-Side Firms?

What is Data Governance?

Data is an essential asset for buy-side businesses, and it is critical to ensure it is managed effectively. This is where data governance comes into play. Simply put, data governance refers to the management of data-related assets and processes within an organization. Data governance involves the development and implementation of policies, procedures, and standards to ensure that data is accurate, secure, and used in a way that aligns with the organization’s goals and objectives.

At its core, data governance is an approach to enterprise data management that establishes specific rules and processes for how data should be collected, stored, processed, and used. It involves defining roles and responsibilities for enterprise data management, establishing standards for data quality and accuracy, and ensuring that data is accessible and secure.

Why is Data Governance Important?

One of the primary goals of data governance is ensuring that data is used effectively to support decision-making within the organization. To achieve this goal, data needs to be accurate, reliable, and up-to-date. Data governance helps ensure that data is collected and stored in a consistent manner, making it easier to analyze and use effectively.

In addition, data governance helps ensure data is protected from unauthorized or unnecessary access. This involves implementing appropriate workflow controls and monitoring.

Data governance is not a one-time event but rather an ongoing process that involves continuous monitoring, analysis, and improvement. As data volumes grow, organizations need to ensure that data governance is scalable and can accommodate changing needs.

What are the Benefits of Data Governance?

Data governance is a critical component of any organization’s enterprise data management strategy. By implementing robust data governance software, organizations can reap numerous benefits:

• Improved Data Quality

One of the most significant benefits of data governance is improved data quality. With an effective data governance program in place, a business can maintain consistent standards and procedures for data collection, storage, and management. This helps ensure data is accurate, complete, and consistent, which helps prevent errors and inconsistencies that can arise when data is stored in silos or managed in an ad hoc manner. Improved data quality drives better decision-making, increased efficiency, and reduced costs.

• Improved Decision-Making

Another benefit of data governance is improved decision-making. When data is accurate, consistent, and readily available, it can provide valuable insights that can inform business decisions. By establishing data governance policies and procedures that ensure high-quality data, an organization can make more informed decisions, reduce risks, and identify opportunities more quickly.

• Increased Efficiency

Data governance can help increase efficiency by reducing the time and effort required to manage data. By automating policy enforcement and procedures for enterprise data management, organizations can reduce duplication of effort and eliminate data silos. This can help reduce the amount of time and resources required to capture, manage, and use data in a wide range of applications.

• Improved Collaboration

Data governance can improve collaboration among various departments and business units within an organization. By establishing common access, data governance can help ensure that everyone is working with the same accurate data sets, which improves communication, breaks down data silos, and enables data-driven decision-making across the organization.

Finally, data governance increases trust in an organization’s data. When data is accurate, consistent, and readily available, stakeholders can have more confidence in the information they see in daily workflow. This also helps build trust with customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders, which can lead to improved relationships and increased business opportunities.

How to Strengthen Data Governance

Improving data governance is crucial for asset management, hedge funds, and private market firms to ensure compliance, risk mitigation, and reliable decision-making. Here are some industry-standard methods buy-side firms can use to improve data governance:

• Establish data governance policies: The first step in improving data governance for buy-side firms is to establish data governance policies. These policies should define the roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders, such as data owners, data stewards, and data custodians. The policies should also cover data access, data quality, data security, and data retention. Policies should be reviewed and updated regularly to keep them relevant.
• Implement a data governance framework: A data governance framework is a set of guidelines and procedures that outline how data should be managed, stored, and shared across the organization. A robust data governance framework will help buy-side firms establish a clear chain of command, improve data quality, and enable better decision-making. The framework should include data standards, metadata management, data lineage tools, data quality checks, and data security protocols.
• Define data quality standards: High-quality data is critical for making informed investment decisions. Buy-side firms need to define data quality standards to ensure that data is accurate, complete, consistent, and timely. Data quality standards should cover data entry, data validation, and data cleaning. Buy-side firms can use automated tools to monitor data quality and flag any inconsistencies or errors.
• Develop a data catalog: A data catalog is a comprehensive inventory of all data assets. It provides a centralized view of all data sources, data flows, and data dependencies. A data catalog helps buy-side firms identify data owners, track data lineage, and ensure data quality. A well-structured data catalog can also improve data discovery and facilitate data sharing.
• Implement data governance controls: Data governance controls are policies and procedures that enforce the data governance framework. Buy-side firms can use automated tools to implement data governance controls, such as n-level approval controls and workflow controls.
• Conduct data governance audits: Regular data governance audits are essential to assess the effectiveness of data governance policies, frameworks, and controls. Audits help buy-side firms identify gaps and areas for improvement. The audit process should cover data quality, data security, data retention, and compliance with regulatory requirements. Features like real-time audits are also very useful for enterprise data management.

Buy-side firms must establish robust data governance practices to manage data effectively, ensure compliance, mitigate risks, and drive better decision-making. The industry-standard methods outlined above can help buy-side firms improve data governance practices and reap the benefits of high-quality data. Implementing these methods will require commitment, resources, and willingness to change. Keep in mind, however, that data governance is a critical component of effective enterprise data management, and the benefits far outweigh the costs.

Learn more about IVP Enterprise Data Management Solution for buy-side firms or contact us at sales@ivp.in.