Governance in less mature organizations: Keep it practical

Most consulting, vendor and industry best practice material on Information Governance (IG) has grown out of many examples across several industries. It is usually well-written, but often in abstract terminology, with theoretical concepts that less mature organizations can’t easily relate to.

Medium-sized organizations are typically characterized by:

• a simpler organization structure
• limited IT budgets
• lower organizational maturity
• underdeveloped Change Management capabilities

If you want Business executives in such less IG-aware organizations to support an IG program then you’ve got to keep it real and use practical language they easily recognize. Senior managers at a large UK retailer were sceptical of a proposed Information Governance program until it was broken down into its components and explained in Business-friendly language (see diagram “Components of an Information Governance Framework”).

So instead of talking about “governance architectures”, “data models” and “information validation frameworks” you should refer to “data entry control”, “checks & balances” and “Group-wide information standards” etc. Likewise, ensure that your business benefits directly link to Board-level vernacular.

[this is part 1 in a 14-part blog on Capgemini’s “QuickStart Information Governance” framework]