Data ROI

For the fourth publication in the Data ROI series, the EDM Council Data ROI Working Group has published Data as a National Treasure: A framework and case studies to value national data across countries and functional sectors. The paper provides an overall framework and approach for treating data as a national treasure, similar to people and natural resources, and how to benchmark the value of data based on key metrics such as gross domestic product, annual budget, and constituent count.

This document contains a number of case studies across countries, functional sectors, and data products. The paper is intended as a guide to policymakers and data management professionals looking to leverage data to achieve mission, raise funds, and comply with regulations.

EDM Council announces the publication of Measure, Manage, Create Value – Practical Steps for Achieving High Data ROI by Treating Data as an Asset, the second report produced by the Data ROI Working Group. This downloadable report demonstrates how to isolate the overall value of data in an organization from its total unattributed intangible value. This includes variations for the special situations of data product companies and banks, and illustrates how to compute a data ROI (return on investment).

The Three-Step Framework includes:

• Measure: Assign a specific value to your organization’s data.
• Manage: Understand how to treat data with similar care as physical assets.
• Create value: Establish a practice to compute the return on investment (ROI) of data initiatives.

To address this objective, this workgroup will examine the following Data ROI Use Cases:

1. The Data ROI of the Data Office and the CDO / Data Programs
   •  Can a best practice be designed to demonstrate the success of a data management initiative within the organization?
   • Can a framework be developed to bring transparency to the benefits of a proposed data project or software/hardware acquisition (e.g.: data lakes; MDM; Golden Copy; etc.)?
2. Data as an Asset with ROI
   • Is there a standard way in which intrinsic value of data can be represented (data on the balance sheet)?

For each of these use cases, the group will create a framework of best practices and guiding principles, and a resource of examples and success stories, that can be used cross-industry, to assist in defining the ROI associated with data and data management initiatives.

The Data ROI workgroup is managed by the EDM Council and co-chaired by Scotiabank and Wellington Consulting, with participation from the financial institutions, technology firms and data providers.