Reflecting on 2023, our FSFP team is grateful for the lessons learned, challenges overcome and strengthened relationships we gained within our team and with clients and partners.
Last year was an exciting year for our company. We want to share a few highlights and our glimpse of what’s to come this year.
Engagement Experiences: Challenges, Successes and Outcomes
In 2023, we were fortunate to collaborate with great clients on some of the most challenging and rewarding projects. We could share dozens of client engagement stories with you, but a few stand out. Here’s what our lead consultants had to say about FSFP’s partnerships with these clients.
Data Governance Directives for a Financial Institution
Over the past 50 years, our financial services client has served Los Angeles’ Chinese American community, helping them build homes, businesses and communities.
Stephanie Paradis, Senior Data Governance Consultant
“Getting operational and tactical resources for data stewardship activities and sustaining executive and strategic commitment took time and effort for our client. Additionally, data capabilities had to be documented, implemented and tracked manually, which proved challenging. They needed data directives to be more requirement-specific, rather than outcome-specific, in order to mobilize more effectively for managing data risk. After the engagement, our client received a positive federal agency review and continued incorporating the revised framework into business-as-usual activities. The stakeholders were pleased with the updated data governance framework, roadmap and plans for updating data governance directives,” said Stephanie Paradis.
World-Renowned Medical Center Harnesses the Power of AI
This client is a leading global medical institution that offers world-class care for patients with various diseases and conditions.
Sarah Rasmussen, Senior Consultant
“As an extension of their data office, we supported leaders to empower HR, finance, clinical operations, enterprise reporting, research, model development and enterprise reporting. Our roll-out strategy improved several data functions (master data management/reference data, metadata and data quality management). To onboard and expand data management, we identified data domains and stewardship groups. Though the organization has used artificial intelligence and machine learning for decades to help find patient cures, AI remained somewhat of a mystery, rather than an institutional capability. The organization now uses shared datasets and AI/ML models to answer questions about how AI is used. We also helped develop data catalogs to share AI context. The company’s data stewards now understand how data flows into models and how it is used. Additionally, we facilitated critical conversations with technology partners about their expectations of AI-based solutions, including improved data stewardship,” said Sarah Rasmussen.
Global Pharmaceutical Company Develops and Enhances Its Data Governance Program
Our client, a global biopharmaceutical company, aims to improve the lives of people with severe neurological and immunological disorders.
Nellie McBride, Engagement Partner
“Our team worked with an international pharmaceutical company to build and expand its data governance program for the US market, which comprises 80% of its $6B revenue. FSFP is helping to maximize client investment in third-party data while providing a data decision framework that optimizes data and engages teams to streamline future product launches. With this, future product launches will go to market faster and be able to track and report on product successes and opportunities with new standardized KPIs enabled by launch-critical business glossary terms in Collibra, and strong leadership alignment on growth, market share and provider and patient product success criteria,” said Nellie McBride.
What’s Ahead: ERP, AI and Women in Data Management
ERP is a Key Initiative in 2024
A report by analyst firm HG Insights indicates that enterprise resource planning (ERP) is getting a larger share of global IT spending. Over 12 months, it’s expected that 1.4 million companies will spend $183 billion on ERP systems. The figure accounts for 17.9% of all IT software expenditures and 5% of all IT expenditures.
An organization’s desire to increase operational efficiency and understand its competitive advantages drives cloud-based ERP adoption. Throughout an ERP transformation, an organization must continue running existing businesses, serving customers, creating products and managing employees. FSFP’s founder and CEO Kelle O’Neal said, “ERP transformations are critical enterprise initiatives that can keep the C-suite up at night. Because enterprise data is at the heart of ERP work, if data is ignored or negatively impacted in an ERP initiative, it will impact both the transformation’s success, as well as the operational efficiency of the business.” (Learn more about the risky business of ERP transformations.)
Data accuracy and usability are critical to both the ERP solution and the downstream systems to drive the ROI of an organization’s enormous investment. FSFP understands the data-related risks and considerations inherent in an ERP transformation and recommends several data-centric best practices. One is to set up a Transformation Data Office to help an organization reduce ERP-related data risks and facilitate collaboration, decision-making and alignment across transformation workstreams. Another important best practice is to ensure that master data, reference data and associated data quality requirements are addressed with business stewardship across the data ecosystem to ensure that reporting, analytics, forecasting, business operations and AI processing value is maximized with the ERP outcomes.
Another important best practice is to ensure that master data, reference data and associated data quality requirements are addressed with business stewardship across the data ecosystem to ensure that reporting, analytics, forecasting, business operations and AI processing value is maximized with the ERP outcomes.
AI’s Impact on Business
AI was a hot topic in the workplace, at conferences, and even around last year’s Thanksgiving dinner table with family and friends. It seems everyone is talking about AI.
Although artificial intelligence has been around for decades, its applicability to and usability by most businesses and individuals has recently become a reality. The Economist predicted that generative AI will become mainstream in 2024. (Generative AI encompasses algorithms and systems capable of producing original content, such as images, text or music, by learning patterns from existing data and generating novel outputs that reflect those learned patterns.)
But it’s not just about generative AI. AI concepts and models advance analytical sophistication and output. They’re also embedded in operational systems to improve automation and utility.
For AI to be intelligent, it needs accurate and appropriate data. All aspects of AI require governance, including models, algorithms and processes. Our team can help you understand, manage and best utilize your data and your AI content and processes. Whether your business leverages AI for operational efficiency, wants to transform your business with AI models or is new to AI, we will assist you. Our data governance approach extends to the latest AI requirements, and we will continue refining our approach as new AI use cases and technologies emerge.
Diversity in Data Management
Since FSFP’s founding in 2007, our company’s commitment to professional development, mentoring and seeing more women work in data management and data leadership roles has never wavered.
Last fall, DATAVERSITY asked Kelle to co-host its new special interest group (SIG), Women in Data Management and Governance. (Kelle explains the genesis of this new group on our blog.)
“For FSFP and me personally, diversity, equity and inclusion are important issues. I’ve always been passionate about seeing more women working in our industry. When DATAVERSITY asked me to participate in the SIG, I jumped at the chance. Whether it’s facilitating events, finding speakers, driving participation, eliciting feedback from our community or brainstorming ‘what’s next,’ my goal is to contribute to the group’s growth and management,” Kelle said.
Our team also looks forward to supporting this new group in any way possible.
Cheers to 2024
Last year was one to celebrate for FSFP and 2024 promises to be great, too. It’s an exciting time to work in this field, and we’re thrilled to help our clients make the most of their data.
If FSFP can assist you in optimizing AI, enriching your data governance program or partnering with you on the data-centric work needed for a successful ERP transformation, contact us or call 1-888-499-DATA (3282) to start the conversation.
