Background
A rapidly growing Dubai-based retail-oriented holding company faced increased data regulations as it expanded its business interests in the Middle East region. It needed to establish a more robust and proactive Data Governance, Quality, and Privacy program to accelerate compliance with these increased data regulations.
The main objective of this initiative was to establish a Data program across 15 Operating companies with business interests in over 20 countries.
The Challenge
Beyond the organizational complexity of coordinating across the 15 Operating companies, our Client faced a rapidly evolving regulatory landscape around consumer data and privacy. Each operating company had a low data quality maturity that limited the ability to control and prevent known compliance issues. Lastly, the organization needed an in-house capability to set up and operate a complex program and gain support.
Why Definian
Our Client selected Definian to partner with on this initiative because of our experience building and facilitating complex data governance and quality programs. That expertise provided the confidence that Definian could build a flexible, democratized program to keep the organization ahead of their regulation requirements.
Primary Deliverable
As we engaged with our Client, we assessed current maturity levels and cataloged the data governance, privacy, and security requirements. Using the assessment results, we built a hub-and-spoke Data Governance model supporting all business units. This model enabled each business unit to operate independently while meeting common standards established at each hub.
As part of the data governance program's setup, we guided our Client through a data governance and quality platform selection process. Together, we evaluated several alternatives to ensure that the platform aligned with the Client's evolving needs and future vision. Using the platform, Definian connected, scanned, and collected metadata for 109 systems. Through those scans and data governance operations, 600 Critical Data Elements were identified.
With the governance operations and platform operational, the project's next step was to address the significant data quality issues. With limited Client resources, our Client turned to Definian to set up and operate a Data Quality as a Service program. Combining automated tools and Definian's consulting team, we quickly started the data quality improvement process while collaborating on formal organization-specific requirements. Additionally, we rolled out DQ dashboards tailored for each operating company.
Next steps
While much work remains, the organization has significantly increased its data maturity. It's equipped to more readily do business in more countries and adapt to changing regulations. Our Client now also has the data confidence to take advantage of more advanced ML/AI capabilities, which will accelerate their organizational growth.
