September 21, 2006. Welcome to the EDM Council blog - one of the three pillars of our communications strategy (the other two being the member directory designed to facilitate peer-to-peer networking and the EDMC forum for the free exchange of ideas on the art, science and politics of data management). I'll wait a few months before I start talking about the Council Wiki so as not to expose my real information industry roots (yes thats printers ink running through my veins).

If we get the concept correct, the blog is about insight we learn from discussions with our members (protecting the innocent as always) as they work through the difficult challenges associated with integrating data content into their operational environments. A daunting challenge if ever there was one. And why is it so daunting – particularly since the concepts of data management and data leverage are easy to grasp.

Well, you dont have to look too far under the covers to catch a glimpse of the nature of the organizational beast that financial institutions are facing. Im convinced, effective EDM is 5 insight, 25 project management, and 70 organizational alignment. The obstacles associated with moving from vertical operational models to alignment across functions, applications, business units and geographies are huge. We dont have the governance in place. We dont compensate ‘masters of the universe based on organizational objectives. We dont evaluate budget deltas in context of their business logic. After all, were only human – creative, political, protective of turf, and self absorbed.

Add to that the fact that were just now learning how to understand and deal with data content issues. Odd as it sounds, while financial institutions are extremely skilled at data processing, data distribution, and data delivery (i.e. data for front office applications and trading), theyre not very aware of the issues associated with data precision, granularity and meaning. Lets see - long standing business silos, run by ‘alphas, facing time-to-market pressures, with compensation structures that promote independence, in an area that we dont fully grasp and with no clear business owner. Hummm ... piece of cake.