Everyone within an enterprise agrees that data is an asset, but it’s what to do with it that causes divisiveness between business leaders and IT personnel.
Anne Buff will examine the root of data strategy arguments, share why the different mindsets exist, and provide methods to develop an enterprise approach that utilizes data in an effective way during her presentation, titled “Two Faces of Data Strategy: Why it Can be Hard for Business and IT to See Eye to Eye” at Data Summit 2016 in NYC. Buff is a business solutions manager and thought leader for SAS Best Practices, a thought leadership organization at SAS Institute.
“The big issue we’re still seeing with organizations right now is that conversation of alignment between business and IT,” Buff said. Organizations cannot expect the best results if there are two different sets of goals in mind by two sides of the business, she explained.
“Once you recognize the reason for it, it becomes easier to arrange them,” Buff said. “The drivers shouldn’t be different; they really should be whatever is connected to the strategic initiatives of the organization.”
While business leaders want to jump into projects, sometimes throwing caution to the wind, IT personnel consider how to do more with less and cutting costs.
“Both of those are fine drivers but you have to have a balance of both,” she noted. The reasons for that are that if there is too much focus on accomplishing goals, and not enough of a focus on the costs of that, then there is not anything that’s repeatable. “We don’t have any rules and regulations; we’re not meeting any compliance standards,” Buff said. “There are all kinds of things that get lost in the mix of effectiveness.”
This topic is important because the power of data is in its timeliness and being able to balance the efficiency and effectiveness of data is critical to its ability to move the competitive edge for the business and being a differentiator, Buff said.
“I look forward to Data Summit and DBTA events because they always have relative conversations to what’s really happening in today’s world as far as data is concerned,” Buff said. “This is just more practical application of what’s going to matter to companies today.”
Buff will present “Two Faces of Data Strategy: Why it Can be Hard for Business and IT to See Eye to Eye” at Data Summit on Tuesday, May 10, at 12:00 pm at the New York Hilton Midtown in NYC. Additionally, she’ll be participating in a variety of other discussions during the event. To register, go here.