No one in today’s market can or would deny that data is critical to driving business and innovation. But data alone isn’t enough. To truly unlock its potential, organizations need to effectively share and govern their data assets.
“Clearly, data sharing is fundamental to business as we know it,” says James Kobielus, Senior Director of Research for Data Management at TDWI. “It’s fundamental to the productivity of teams and individuals.”
Kobielus recently sat down with Sanjot Shah, Data Governance Leader for Business Transformation and Digital Organization at multinational manufacturer Cummins, and Ben Beckwith, Senior Director of Governance Architecture at Immuta, to debate the role of data sharing and governance in driving innovation, collaboration, and compliance.
In this blog, we’ll delve into the key takeaways from their discussion, highlight why data sharing and governance are essential for modern businesses, and explain how to implement it effectively.
Secure data sharing powers innovation. Seamless data access allows organizations to foster collaboration, accelerate product development, and uncover valuable insights that drive business growth. But with the increasing volume and complexity of data, especially in hybrid and multi-cloud environments, ensuring data security and compliance has become more critical than ever.
“If you’re using data safely, that does unlock innovation,” says Beckwith. “The user experience needs to be seamless, too.”
But neglecting to implement data sharing and governance with security controls in place exposes organizations to risks, including:
Effective data sharing and governance builds trust and confidence in data quality and accuracy. In turn, organizations can make more informed decisions, drive innovation, and achieve their business objectives.
“The way we looked at the business value from data sharing is twofold: One is innovation…the second piece is compliance,” says Shah, who also shared that secure data sharing allowed Cummins to leverage extensive data for analysis, fostering innovation in product development and driving sales growth.
Building a robust data sharing and governance framework requires a strategic and adaptable approach.
“Any program, for its success, has to start with the business objective,” says Shah. “Start small…agility is super critical.”
Shah, Kobielus, and Beckwith shared their key principles for implementing a data sharing and governance framework:
For Beckwith and his team at Immuta, this means providing organizations with the tools they need to succeed.
“I think about really three main broad strokes,” he says. “First, we do grants. We do table access – can you see the table or not? Then we do column controls where we can mask [columns]…. And then we do row controls, where we can reduce the number of rows that get returned.”
To implement these principles and capabilities effectively, consider these practical steps:
Secure data sharing and governance play a crucial role in breaking through data silos that hinder collaboration and innovation. By providing secure and controlled access to data, teams work together more effectively, share insights faster, and make more informed decisions.
“Once the confidence is in place, once the sustainable solution is in place, that [allows] the business to break the silos and explore the data across functions – and get value out of it,” says Shah.
Consider a global media and entertainment company that offers a popular streaming service. In order to provide personalized content recommendations, the company needed the ability to share subscriber data across functions and geographies – without violating privacy rules and regulations. Using dynamic access controls and advanced masking techniques, they were able to break down silos and deliver a best-in-class service that surpassed subscription goals – safely and compliantly.
As organizations continue to adopt multi-platform strategies and decentralized architectures like data marketplaces, ensuring secure data sharing and governance becomes even more complex. Data leaders need to address the challenges of managing data across diverse ecosystems, while maintaining centralized control and ensuring a seamless user experience.
During their discussion, Shah, Kobielus, and Beckwith highlighted the importance of choosing solutions that can adapt to these complex environments, providing consistent security and governance policies – consistently – across different cloud platforms.
“Having a sustainable solution was super critical,” says Shah, noting that what’s on paper may not meet expectations in reality. “Many times, we look for the silver bullet. But in this case, we worked with Immuta, and Immuta allowed us to connect multiple data sources…and we were able to extend [capabilities].”
An agile and iterative approach is crucial to navigating the evolving data landscape and adapt to changing business requirements. As decentralization and self-service data access become the norm, it will be more important than ever to build data infrastructure that is as agile as it is scalable.
Secure data sharing and governance is no longer an option, but a necessity for organizations that have plans to grow, innovate, and compete in an increasingly complex market. By implementing a robust framework, you can put your data to work – getting it into the hands of the right users, quickly, safely, and compliantly.
Learn more in our on-demand webinar.
