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Experian blog: Locating a leader

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By The Drum Team, Editorial

September 29, 2011 | 2 min read

Last week I talked about how people are key to building a successful data strategy, but that businesses often fail to see the key role of these important cogs in the wheel.

My second recommended step to ensuring crucial stakeholder buy in is appointing a strong leader. This isn’t necessarily Mike the data manager. What you need is someone who can champion the cause of the implementation and the new initiative. They should be a willing participant who is already data centric, understands why changes are being made, and someone who has excellent interpersonal skills. And they should be deft at dealing with push back.

They also need to be able to help communicate the project. The business has invested time, energy and resource into agreeing and defining the data strategy so don’t be shy or secretive about it. Share this vision, rationale and plan with the business. Tailored communications via email, team meetings, monthly updates, and one to ones with managers should involve discussion about the implementation of a data strategy. Inform the people and get buy in and commitment – ensure people are involved from the start and have sight of what may or may not be coming. Make sure they are aware that positive changes are in the pipeline, are assured that they will be involved and can see the benefits for them as well as the business.

The worst nightmare for any employee is receiving an email saying “a data strategy is being implemented. It is your role to ensure you abide by the following rules and guidelines.” This is a sure fire way of losing votes and ensuring immediate resentment. Transparency in any project involving significant change and adoption of new processes is the key to helping achieve the buy in that is central to the success of the project.

Next time, I’ll give you my tips on how understanding users’ needs can make or break a data project.

Kiran Gill is a data strategy consultant within Experian Marketing Information Services with over 13 years of experience working with customer data in various sectors.

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