Itumeleng Monale, Executive Head Information Management at Standard Bank, talks with Dave Vellante for IBM DataOps in Action. #IBM #DataOps #theCUBE https://siliconangle.com/2020/05/28/qa-standard-bank-group-shares-built-successful-mature-data-operations-framework-dataops/ Q&A: Standard Bank Group shares how it built a mature data operations framework Data is an asset. But does enterprise treat it as such? Knowing something and doing it are two different things. Even after a business has made the transition to digital operations, data managers are challenged to shift the cultural mindset of data as a sidebar overseen by the IT department to one where data is valued throughout the organization. “Data is a business capability, a business function,” said Itumeleng Monale (pictured), head of enterprise information management and Personal and Business Banking Data office at Standard Bank Group. “It resides in business next to product management, next to marketing, next to everything else that the business needs. [It] has to be called to every role and every function.” Monale spoke with Dave Vellante, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, during the IBM DataOps in Action event. They discussed how the Standard Bank Group successfully developed a framework for mature data operations and proved to the workforce how responsible data management benefits all aspects of business. (* Disclosure below.) [Editor’s note: The following content has been condensed for clarity.] Tell us about your role at the Standard Bank Group and the changes you’ve seen during your time with the company. Monale: I head up a data operations function and a data management function, which really is the foundational part of the data value chain that then allows other parts of the organization to monetize data and deliver it as the use cases apply. We’re an enterprise-wide organization that ensures that data quality is managed, data’s governed, that we have effective practices applied to the entire lineage of the data, ownership and curation is in place, and everything else from a regulatory as well as opportunity perspective, then is able to be leveraged upon. My previous role in the early 2000s was head of digital banking, and at the time we thought digital was the panacea. Lo and behold, we realized that once you’ve gotten all of your digital platforms ready, they are just the plate or the pipe. Nothing is flowing through it, and there’s no food on the plate if data’s not the main focus. So, really, data has always been an asset. I think organizations just never consciously knew that. What were some of the challenges that you faced in transforming Standard Bank’s data operations, and how did you solve them? Monale: Convincing my colleagues that data was their problem and not something that they just kind of leave us to it was the first step in terms of getting the data operations journey going. They didn’t embrace it in the beginning. It wasn’t an, “Oh, yeah, that makes sense. Let’s do that,” type of conversation. So, we developed a framework for a fully mature data operations capability in the organization and what that would look like in a target state scenario. And then we waited for a good crisis. When a challenge occurred, in that our local regulator found us a little bit wanting in terms of our data quality, it brought the case for data quality management to the forefront. Now there’s a burning platform; people say, “Okay, we need this to comply, so help us out.” When they saw data ops in action, they bought into the concept. Sometimes you need to just wait for a good crisis and leverage it, and only do that which the organization will appreciate at that time. When that crisis hit, you probably had to deal with it in terms of people, process and technology. Can you talk about that? Monale: From a technology perspective, that was when we partnered with IBM Corp. to implement InfoSphere Information Analyzer. It was important for us to make strides in terms of showing the organization progress, but also being able to give employees access to self-service tools that will give them insight into their data. People-wise, we began a data stewardship journey. I had soldiers planted in each department who were data managers. They worked to continue building the culture, maturing the data practices as applicable to each business unit’s use cases. ... Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the IBM DataOps in Action event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the IBM DataOps in Action event. Neither IBM, the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)