Information management vendor Kalido on Monday released its Data Governance Director, a new product aimed at turning data management rules that exist on paper -- or in the heads and hard drives of the few data wonks -- into policies that are practiced, monitored and measured throughout an organization.
Data governance is a high-stakes challenge for highly regulated businesses such as financial services, banks, insurance companies, health care providers and pharmaceuticals. Good governance ensures proper handling and stewardship of sensitive data such as personally identifiable customer information.
Kalido says a lack of supporting technology has left many of firms unable to put their governance policies and programs into practice.
"What this product will do is centralize the data policies, give them context and visibility across the organization and support the consistent application of rules," said Bill Hewitt, president and CEO of Kalido.
Kalido Data Governance Director provides a collaborative process for defining and managing data policies around data. It then orchestrates the tasks and deadlines associated with ensuring compliance with policies, coordinating the work and approval steps required among data owners, analysts and stewards.
The system is said ensure a transparent and auditable governance process with monitoring and reporting capabilities. When dashboard-delivered measures reveal that compliance efforts are falling short, the system delivers a prioritized a short list of the most sensitive or potentially costly compliance risks deserving remediation.
Kalido announced the Data Governance Director in June and it has spent the last six months refining the product with input from a solution advisory board represented by companies including GE Treasury, Kraft Foods, Navistar, Nokia, Unilever and VISA Europe.
Drug giant Pfizer recently purchased the product and plans to implement it in the near future, according to Sanjay Sahoo, director of knowledge management in the drug giant's Global Operations unit.
Pfizer has been working on a data quality initiative for more than a year, Sahoo told InformationWeek, but the company needed to way to implement its data policies. Pfizer was considering developing an governance application in house, using a business process management system linked with SharePoint for collaboration. Sahoo said the Data Governance Director was a more attractive option.
"We definitely want to steer away from developing custom solutions that we need to maintain," Sahoo said. "This product provides all the components required in a sustainable data governance framework."
Kalido's Data Governance Director is intended to work with existing investments. For example, the vendor says integrations will be available for leading data quality tools. Subscription-based pricing starts at $200,000, with costs determined by the number of users and policies involved in the data governance initiative.
