By Nick Curcuru, Vice President at Privitar

 

Many of an organization’s deepest insights are derived from their sensitive data, but responsible organizations must ensure that such data is safe for wide usage.  

Since Privitar’s founding, our team has been privileged to help many of the world’s leading organizations embrace safe data analytics strategies, to use their data to gain valuable insights, and to advance the ways in which they leverage safe data.

Over the years, we’ve seen that many of them face similar challenges created by privacy risks, compliance concerns, inefficient workflows, and complex manual processes. These roadblocks slow access to data, stifle innovation, and prevent organizations from realizing the maximum value from their data.

We want to change that, and to that end, have created the Data Provisioning Maturity Model.

 

The Data Provisioning Maturity Model

The Data Provisioning Maturity Model enables organizations to quickly assess where they are today with regard to their data programs and helps illustrate what is needed to understand and ultimately improve their data protection programs. 

Data provisioning, in short, is the process of collecting and delivering data from source(s) to target(s). The ability to do so efficiently and safely varies from organization to organization and ranges across the capability levels described below. The higher the organization’s maturity, the more capable it is to leverage data resources creating real value for not only the enterprise, but most importantly the people they serve:

Level 1 – Ad-hoc: there is no standard provisioning framework in place.

Level 2 – Siloed: data provisioning is controlled at a domain level only and is not coordinated across the enterprise.

Level 3 – Coordinated: Data provisioning occurs across the enterprise, regardless of which domain owns or consumes the data.

Level 4 – Centralized: Data protection, governance, and accountability are directly built into the data provisioning process.

Level 5 – Innovative:  Data provisioning process is a business enabler.

Inside of each level, we evaluate four major areas with each having three minor functions with each area. In our experience, organizations have different levels of maturity for each of those areas (e.g. some are very strong on the data side but weak in technology and process) so it is important to know where you are in each major area, so you can improve accordingly.

The diagram below represents a data provisioning maturity model and shows that a high level of capability (vertical) corresponds with increased business value (horizontal). It also shows the four major areas and their three sub areas: (1) People, (2) Process, (3) Data, and (4) Technology.

 

The data provisioning maturity model as it relates to people, process, data, and technology.

 

We’ve built the Data Provisioning Maturity Model based on our experience supporting Fortune 500 and government organizations in countries around the world to increase their maturity and get the full value from their data. It has and will continue to evolve based on the work we do with our clients in analyzing their existing infrastructure, along with designing and developing appropriate business processes and IT solutions tailored to each organization’s needs.

 

Why is it important?

The model acts as both a measuring stick and common framework for organizations to help illustrate what is needed to improve their ability to use advanced analytics in everyday decision making. It quickly identifies improvement areas and creates short term tactical actions while keeping the big picture value in focus. Actionable improvement plans are facilitated with the model along with a standard to measure progress. In short, using this model will: 

  • Create a common framework and language to help communicate to the organization
  • Quickly identify improvement areas
  • Keep the big picture in mind while focusing specifically on tactical improvements
  • Generate a strategic improvement plan
  • Provide a standard to help measure progress and resolve conflicts

When they start out, most organizations find themselves at level 1 or level 2 and aspire to level up and extract the maximum utility from their data. But in so many instances, they do not know where to start or what to do to move up.  Working together with our customers, we help them answer the where, what and how.  

Over the weeks ahead, we’ll dig deeper into the data provisioning model through additional blog posts and a webinar. We’ll explore the various levels of maturity to help you understand where your organization is today, as well as how you can improve your organization’s level of maturity (including examples of how other organizations increased their maturity), and offer insights into how to overcome roadblocks you face along the way.

On July 13th, Privitar will lead an in-depth session on the Data Provisioning Maturity Model, and how organizations can use it to understand and improve their data protection programs. Learn more or register here