Towards information governance of data value chains: Balancing the value and risks of data within a financial services company

Data is emerging as a key asset of value to organizations. Unlike the traditional concept of a business value chain, or an information value chain, the concept of a data value chain has less currency and is still under-researched. This article reports on the findings of a survey of employees of a financial services company who use a range of data to support their financial analyses, and investment decisions. The purpose of the survey was: to test out the idea of the data value chain as an abstract model useful for organizing the different discrete processes involved in data gathering, data analysis, and decision-making; and to further identify issues, and suggest improvements. While data and its analysis is clearly a tool for supporting the delivery of financial services, there are also a number of risks to its value being realized, most prominently data quality, along with some reservations as to the relative advantages of data-driven over intuitive decision-making. The findings also raise further data and information governance concerns. If implemented these programmes can aid in the realization of value from data, while also mitigating the risks of value not being realized.