Today, buyers have many options for data governance software. There are new vendors and established players both vying for your business. Each offers tools boasting a variety of features. With so many choices, though, it can be quite confusing.
My four-part Buying Decisions series on Tech Target concludes with a look at the top tools on the market. Our hope in publishing this series is that it helps you narrow down the choices and focus in on the one that best fits your organization’s needs.
In the final article, Examining the top data governance tools on the market, I highlight leading tools in the market. I apply the usage scenarios and product categories from my previous articles and focus on three basic use cases:
- Highly regulated industries. This use case requires software that offers a full range of data governance functionality, including tools that support consistency in meaning, tracking of data lineage, workflow and day-to-day administration of high-visibility data governance processes.
- An urgent need to consolidate a significant data domain. Immediately behind regulatory-driven data governance programs are ones driven by master data management (MDM) and “golden copy” efforts. Here, the offerings broaden substantially, as the embedded repository and data quality aspects of MDM tools are combined with data governance functionality.
- Usefulness and accessibility of data. Big data analytics and business intelligence present use cases where data governance is deployed to make data movement efficient, data dimensions more reliable and information more secure and relevant. The data governance tools in this area are, for the most part, the same as those noted for the other use cases. They’re just deployed differently.
In my article, you’ll find 10 vendor names with links to their data governance tool offerings.
The previous articles in the series cover how DG software helps ensure data integrity; how to know if your organization is ready for a data governance tool; and how to narrow down your choices for buying a tool.
Thanks to Tech Target for the opportunity to share my perspectives on this topic.
— Originally written for Tech Target by John Ladley September 28, 2016
John Ladley is a business technology thought leader and recognized authority in all aspects of enterprise information management. He has 30 years’ experience in planning, project management, improving IT organizations and successful implementation of information systems and is a widely published author.
