(US and Canada) Ravi Krishnan, Chief Data Officer, State of North Dakota, speaks with Adita Karkera, Chief Data Officer, Government and Public Services, Deloitte – USA, about data governance and strategy, centralized data strategy for agencies, and prioritizing transformation.

Krishnan says that the data sharing challenge exists on two levels. One involves capabilities for data sharing across systems, platforms, and agencies. The second involves data sharing’s legal aspect. He points toward the “know-how challenge” created when people who worked on older systems retired or left the organization.

Governance is an essential aspect of ensuring data quality, Krishnan says. Data strategy and data governance go hand-in-hand. Krishnan notes that the State of North Dakota’s data strategy will provide the path to the future.

He believes one of the best ways to begin is to partner with an agency and start the governance program. The State of North Dakota has partnered with the Department of Human Services, the Department of Public Instruction, and the Department of Transportation. They solve problems together, utilizing each agency’s best practices. 

Krishnan explains that prioritization is a two-pronged function primarily based on enabled business outcomes and investing for the future. He notes that prioritizing also involves a political perspective, access to the appropriate decision-makers and subject matter experts, and finding the proper partner agencies.