- May 25, 2024
- Posted by: Shalini W
- Category: Business plans
Business Intelligence (BI) is no longer a luxury; it is a requirement. Companies are drowning in information, and BI technologies save the day by transforming data into useful insights. What many people don’t realize is that behind every successful BI deployment sits a key, yet frequently overlooked, figure: the Data Steward.
Business intelligence (BI) refers to several tools and methods that help firms collect, analyze, and visualize data. Businesses can acquire a better understanding of their customers, operations, and market trends via business intelligence dashboards, reports, and other tools. This enables them to make data-driven decisions that increase efficiency, revenue, and competitive advantage.
The Data Steward: Guardian of Information Quality
Consider trying to navigate the enormous ocean of data with a defective compass. Inaccurate, incomplete, or inconsistent data can confuse BI tools, resulting in misleading insights and impeding decision-making. Here’s where the Data Steward comes in.
Data Stewards are responsible for ensuring the quality of information in a business intelligence system. They serve as a liaison between the IT department, which is responsible for data infrastructure, and the business users that rely on BI insights. Their main roles include:
Data Ownership: Data Stewards are responsible for certain data sets within the organization. They understand where the data comes from, what it means, and how it is used.
Data Quality Management: They use data quality checks and procedures to verify that data is accurate, complete, and consistent.
Data Governance: They enforce data governance standards that manage data access, security, and privacy.
Data Lineage: They monitor the flow of data throughout the organization to ensure traceability and understand the impact on BI reports.
Collaboration: Data Stewards work with IT and business users to develop data requirements, debug problems, and ensure that BI systems fulfill business needs.
The Effects of Effective Data Stewardship on BI
The function of a Data Steward may appear technical, but its impact on BI is significant. Here’s how effective data stewardship may help businesses:
Trusted insights: Clean and precise data ensures that business intelligence reports and visualizations give credible insights. This increases confidence in data-driven decision-making throughout the enterprise.
Improved Efficiency: By reducing data mistakes and inconsistencies, Data Stewards help to streamline workflows and analytical processes.
Enhanced compliance: Strong data governance policies ensure compliance with industry rules and data protection laws.
Empowered Business Users: Business users that have clear ownership and comprehension of their data can better exploit BI technologies.
Agile Business Decisions: By ensuring access to high-quality data, Data Stewards allow firms to respond swiftly to market developments and adjust their strategy accordingly.
How to Take Care of Data in the Future in a BI World
Like BI, the job of the Data Steward will change as time goes on. As AI and ML become more popular in business intelligence (BI), Data Stewards will likely be very important in:
Data Governance for AI/ML: Making sure that the data that is used to build AI/ML models is accurate and fair.
Ensuring Data Quality for Advanced Analytics: Constructing frameworks for the evaluation and preservation of data quality in the context of intricate analytical endeavors.
Explainability of Insights: Working with data experts to make sure that BI reports make it clear how data-driven insights were arrived at.
Read More: How to Use AI to Automate Data Processing and Visualization
