(US and Canada) Esther Munyi, Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Sasfin, speaks with Robert Lutton, Vice President at Sandhill Consultants and Editorial Board Vice Chair at CDO Magazine, in a video interview about organizational change management and data literacy and the challenges that organizations face while creating, implementing, or updating data governance programs.

Munyi begins by stating that successful change management must be top-down and backed by the senior management and the board of any organization. She explains that many decision-makers have been making decisions based on their experiences and gut feelings for years. So, any change to decision-making is a major shift for them.

Speaking about the critical change management initiatives for any organization, Munyi mentions the following:

• Do it bit by bit and do not try to convince everybody. Focus on the things and business outcomes that will be the most beneficial.
• Determine what the data is and why it is critical to the organization, and focus on improving and leveraging it for decision-making.
• The organizational culture must be adaptive. It has to come from the leaders of the organization.
• Data governance policies and standards can help enforce and formalize certain changes in an organization. People understand the need to adhere to regulations and legislation.

Speaking about the biggest challenges that organizations face when creating, implementing, or updating their data governance programs, Munyi says that there is no universal body that governs the ethical practices of data, analytics, and AI. So, one of the key challenges is around the bias and ethical practices of data. She explains that the various stakeholders have different mandates or responsibilities and data governance tends to be pulled in different directions.

Munyi highlights the following steps to address these challenges:

• Get everybody to agree on the key business objectives and the things that need focus.
• Resistance to the change is often due to fear of the unknown. Demystify the change that comes with data or data governance.
• There has to be consensus on defining the data and all should speak the same language.
• Address the resistance around controls. Controls can seem decapitating but it needs educating and creating awareness around why the controls are there.

CDO Magazine appreciates Esther Munyi for sharing her insights and data success stories with our global community.

See more from Esther Munyi

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