Data governance in practice: the SME quandary reflections on the reality of data governance in the small to medium enterprise (SME) sector

This paper explores how small to medium enterprises (SMEs) perceive data governance and investigates whether current data governance frameworks are applicable to SMEs. Enterprises of all sizes and complexity have had to learn how to operate in an increasingly digital business environment. Data governance encourages enterprises to recognise the value of their data and to treat data with the same level of management and control as given to all other business assets. This paper reviews examples of published data governance frameworks to establish whether these frameworks are applicable to SMEs. Our research revealed that although many frameworks claimed to be adaptable and scalable, there was little published evidence by industry or academics on the application of data governance to SMEs. Furthermore, our review revealed that the optimal use of data governance frameworks requires that those with the authority and responsibility over enterprise data must have knowledge and some understanding of the terminology that describes data, data-related issues, and data-based technology and this requirement may not be met for many SMEs. Following the review of data governance frameworks, the Khatri & Brown, (2010) framework was selected for use to support our action research in two SMEs. The initial reflections on the reality of data governance for those SMEs revealed that they do not recognise the inherent value of their data nor view their data as having an independent existence from the systems that support their business processes. The paper concludes, amongst other things, that further research is required to identify a data governance framework that meets the needs for SMEs to take control over their data resource and gain the significant benefits and competitive advantage that up until now has been only available to large enterprises.