Expert panelists discuss data as an enabler at the CDO Midwest Summit 2022, sponsored by CDO Magazine and ComSpark. The session, titled "Enabling Self-Service in a Data-Driven Organization," features the following speakers:

• Hong Gao, Executive Director, Enterprise Data Management & Analytics at Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance
• Gaurav Mantro, Head of Enterprise Data Office at WESCO International
• Molly Schmied, Chief Analytics Officer (Office of Advancement) at The Ohio State University

Ajay Anand, Chief Product Officer at Kyvos Insights, moderates the session.

Gao opens the conversation by declaring, "Trust is everything to me." She observes that Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance markets on trust by supporting people during trying times. She adds that a trustworthy source is a fundamental precondition for obtaining insights.

According to Gao, partners must understand the KPIs that the company deploys to evaluate success across all business areas. Mixed signals result from a need for governance or uniformity. She considers uniformity via a governance body and data literacy essential to create a self-service analytics platform and, eventually, a data-driven firm, 

Next, Schmied discusses creating data catalogs at the enterprise level. She maintains that engaging in thorough discussions about KPIs is a part of organizational governance. The KPI process, she says, "Truly considers working with the business to develop."

Adding his view, Mantro advises standardization of data models, focusing more on consumption than solutions. "Having a common business glossary enabled us a lot when we looked at our data quality rules because data quality becomes a key barrier for trust and data,” he says.

The speaker admits that data quality takes time to change from subjective to objective. However, it is possible to monitor data quality by coordinating with business partners, Mantro notes.

Gao expands on data governance by mentioning the creation and promotion of a data governance council that aids the advancement of company-level data definitions.

Additionally, Schmied has established a council for enterprise-level data governance and a HIPAA-compliant medical facility. Her team has attempted to create a CRM that retains student data while abiding by FERPA and HIPAA regulations.

Ownership of data and being in the silo with that ownership is more challenging than governance, says Mantro. “Transformation does not happen till every piece of your organization is customer-centric,” he says. “So, we have looked at our customers, products, and suppliers. Those are three key domains, and we call them our enterprise data domains.”

Mantro also mentions the importance of a holistic understanding of the data journey.

Schmied emphasizes building shared data sets for Tableau assets. She adds, “We are trying to work with our DBA on how to get data modeled in a way within the warehouse so that we can build some of these shared data sets.”

Sharing more on transformation, Mantro says, “The strategy we use is, once the data gets into Data Lake, we create certified data assets." He contends that the owner of a recognized data asset is the one who comprehends the business value and data meaning.

Gao maintains that it is her responsibility to convert the physical underplayed data bits into meaningful business terms going forward. She agrees with Mantro that the terminology needs to be standard across the board.

When discussing user expectations, Schmied focuses on basing KPIs on the user and having dashboards that tell data tales, removing the barrier between the user and the data.

Gao shares her opinion that real value comes from understanding what is happening on the ground and delivering data on time. “We have an overwhelming level of data products pumping out so much data information,” she says. “We have evolved to develop and implement an enterprise level of measurement to measure our growth very frequently."

Schmied switches the emphasis to self-service, emphasizing that it is more than just a tool. "We support our Salesforce marketing and cloud list development, and we wanted to make that self-service,” she explains. “But with that comes a lot of training and partnership.” 

In closing, Schmied says she — like Gao — prioritizes understanding the consumer and respecting where they are in the data journey.

Watch other CDO Midwest Summit 2022 sessions HERE