Details
In the era of data-driven decision-making, organizations are under increasing pressure to empower business users with self-service analytics while maintaining strict data governance and compliance. Striking the right balance between data democratization and governance is critical, but not without challenges. This session explores how semantic layers serve as the cornerstone of modern enterprise data strategies, enabling organizations to adopt a hub-and-spoke governance model.
The hub-and-spoke approach combines centralized governance of critical data with decentralized innovation at the business unit level. By implementing a semantic layer, enterprises create a shared, business-friendly abstraction of complex data, providing consistent definitions, robust security, and real-time accessibility. This ensures a single source of truth across analytics tools and teams, fostering both agility and control.
Takeaways:
- A clear understanding of how semantic layers simplify complex data governance.
- Practical strategies to enable decentralized innovation without losing central control.
- Real-world case studies showcasing the business impact of semantic layer implementations.
Gain actionable insights into leveraging semantic layers to address governance challenges, accelerate insights, and foster a collaborative, data-driven culture! Join us to explore how the intersection of governance, semantic layers, and the hub-and-spoke model can transform your enterprise data strategy.
Speakers
Post-event summary
The webinar titled “Semantic Layers in Data Strategy: Enabling Governance & Democratization,” was hosted by EDM Council and AtScale and explored the role of semantic layers in data management, governance, and business accessibility.
- Dave Mariani, Founder & Chief Technology Officer, AtScale
- Morgan Templar, Chief Executive Officer, First CDO Partners
- Leigh Pence, Data Governance Senior Tech Lead, Freddie Mac
- Moderator: Jim Halcomb, Global Head of Research & Development, EDM Council
Expert speakers examined how semantic models and data products enhance data usability while ensuring governance. Dave shared his journey at Yahoo, highlighting the challenge of inconsistent data definitions across business units. He emphasized the need for a universal semantic layer to define core metrics once while allowing flexibility in business tools. Morgan reinforced this by describing semantic layers as essential for consistency and interoperability, enabling businesses to “understand and interact with data in a way that they don’t have to be technical.”
Leigh stressed the importance of governance, noting that reusable, well-governed data products provide transparency while maintaining compliance. The panel also discussed the distinction between data products and data as a product, emphasizing that business users need structured yet adaptable frameworks to create reliable data-driven solutions.
The conversation extended to generative AI and its reliance on semantics for accuracy, Dave stated, “in the era of generative AI, semantics are even more important than ever.” The panel agreed that AI-driven data queries must be anchored in well-defined semantic structures to minimize errors and ensure trust. The session concluded with a call for greater adoption of semantic models to drive better data governance, efficiency, and AI-readiness.