Sapient Global Markets, a division of Sapient dedicated to technology services for capital and commodity markets, is taking a sentiment-based approach to data management maturity assessment with a service that is designed to expedite the process, provide a heat map of maturity across an enterprise and inform spending decisions.
The company’s Sentiment-Based Data Management Maturity Assessment (DMMA) survey is based on the Enterprise Data Management (EDM) Council’s Data Management Maturity Model, but does not use a typical evidence-based approach, instead adding questions geared to understanding how people perceive data management maturity.
The aim of the survey is to benchmark and heat map the maturity of data management, gain insight to drive data management strategy, provide implied prioritisations to better inform spending decisions, and predict the effects of particular initiatives on data maturity.
Gavin Kaimowitz, director at Sapient Global Markets, explains: “One of the biggest roadblocks to successful data management programmes is engagement from senior stakeholders across an organisation and the alignment of deliverables against priorities. Historically, it has taken companies far too long to understand the state of data management related programmes. Sentiment-based DMMA provides an expedited framework on which to base strategic data management decisions.”
The Sapient Global Markets survey is data management vendor agnostic and can be completed electronically, in conjunction with Sapient Global Markets consultants, or by internal staff. It is used to question people from IT to business and includes 12 questions covering four elements of data management: operations, architecture, strategy, and quality. Respondents take about 30 minutes to answer the questions and Sapient Global Markets suggests an analysis of the answers helps firms understand issues across the four elements of data management covered by the survey, decide what action and remediation is needed, and prioritise activities and investment.
Kaimowitz says a sentiment-based approach to data management maturity does not replace an evidence-based approach – Sapient Global Markets also offers an evidence-based service – with an evidence-based survey taking a longer time than a measure of sentiment and providing more structured guidelines for improvement.
Before bringing its sentiment-based DMMA solution to market, the company started to work with it at existing client sites, initially running the survey at a tier one investment bank and a tier one asset manager. One of these projects showed a discrepancy between sentiment and how budgets are assigned, leading to a reassessment of budgets for 2014.
Kaimowitz concludes: “Over the past year, we have experienced an increase in client demand for data management roadmaps. The first step is understanding the state of current data management programmes and this is where sentiment-based DMMA can help.”
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