(Europe) Fabien Coutant, Data Governance Project Manager, Enedis speaks with Ricardo Crepaldi, Director Business Intelligence, Big Data and Integration, BASF Germany, about the qualities of a data leader, priorities for the year, and ways to start the data journey.

According to Coutant, the traits and qualities needed to be a successful academic data leader should be explained quite clearly to multiple internal and external stakeholders without using technical terms. And then it’s necessary to explain the business. For a leader in the data field, that is one of the important focus areas, he notes.

The next focus area involves safety and privacy measures. Coutant says that a data algorithm must be trusted by the stakeholders and consumers of a particular product — they need to be able to trust the provider in terms of management and the handling of their data.

Coutant’s advice for data leaders who need to stay updated on industry developments? He says there has to be regular exchanges between companies.These exchanges,  among companies like telecom operators or bank operators, for example, can lead to sharing of experiences in terms of data standards and norms.

Looking at Enedis’ priorities for the year, he says that one of the key target areas is data quality. Coutant mentions that data quality is a real challenge, especially when it comes to monitoring the quality of the data published by the company. But it’s something that needs to be done more on behalf of the stakeholders and businesses that use the data for decision making. The next priority is communication about company initiatives.

Sharing advice on the approach to justifying investment in data governance to an organization’s board, he says that organizations need to start little, on a smaller scale, and improve in areas that are the most necessary. It can be data quality or protecting the data shared with stakeholders.