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Stronger governance: A force for enablement

Examine this Forbes Insights global survey report to gain awareness into how organizations are obtaining breakthrough returns from investments in business intelligence.

In this report, more than 400 executives around the world share their views on the importance of strong data governance and why it is central to achieving business intelligence.

Key findings:

  • Business Intelligence (BI) programs today are delivering positive business results. A majority of people say they are experiencing a mix of tangible and intangible business benefits from their BI programs — findings that are consistent across industries and geographies. Benefits include improved customer metrics, accelerated time to market, stronger product and service mixes, enhanced brand valuation and recognition, and higher profitability.
  • A range of issues, however, plague BI’s full potential, including inconsistent data, multiple versions of the truth, inconsistent formulas/definitions and limited adoption across the enterprise. The common thread is that all these issues can be addressed through better governance.
  • Less than half of survey respondents (48 per cent) feel their current approach is yielding full advantage of the business improvement opportunities afforded by BI.
  • Executives recognize the importance of governance in BI. Over three-quarters (78 per cent) say data governance is either vital or important to their BI operations, and 65 per cent say governance is a useful means to empower end-users to uncover new insights.
  • Most say they are taking important steps in governance: 83 per cent managing data access at the departmental level, 81 per cent assigning data access by role and 76 per cent mandating the use of specific BI solutions and dashboards.
  • 57 percent agree that end-users who acquired or developed their own BI systems independent of a centralized BI or IT function are now turning to centralized BI or IT departments for enhanced governance.
  • Going forward, the structure of BI will feature:
    • less IT control
    • an increase in standalone, independent BI functions
    • greater structure, planning and governance; fewer ad hoc characteristics
    • a greater mix of centralized/decentralized approaches