Where Data Governance Belongs

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Both IT people and business people usually realize when data management issues are having an impact on the company.  And senior executives are usually at least aware of the issues with important master data domains like customer, supplier and product, because they live with the end results of data quality issues every day. 

But sometimes the business is reluctant to hire anyone to work on data quality or data governance.  So here’s my question: is it better for the IT team to take that on, if the business doesn’t step up to the plate? 

I usually recommend that Master Data Management (MDM) and data governance programs be driven by the business, and in a perfect world, that probably is the best route. 

But even if the business is driving, they usually need a lot of IT support.  And if the business doesn’t want to take on the issue at all, perhaps it’s better to have IT doing it than have no one doing it. 

Please share your thoughts via a quick comment here.