Driving Knowledge Belief, High quality, and Governance with Atlan
The Lively Metadata Pioneers collection options Atlan clients who’ve accomplished a radical analysis of the Lively Metadata Administration market. Paying ahead what you’ve realized to the following knowledge chief is the true spirit of the Atlan group! So that they’re right here to share their hard-earned perspective on an evolving market, what makes up their fashionable knowledge stack, revolutionary use circumstances for metadata, and extra.
On this installment of the collection, we meet Kenza Zanzouri, Technical Governance Professional at Contentsquare, a number one digital expertise analytics platform that gives wealthy context and insights into conduct, emotions, and intent at every touchpoint in a buyer journey for over 1.3 million web sites and functions. Kenza shares the historical past of Knowledge Governance at Contentsquare, from its inception years in the past, to utilizing Atlan to help each BI deliverable, drive enterprise possession, and enhance compliance.
This interview has been edited for brevity and readability.
Might you inform us a bit about your self, your background, and what drew you to Knowledge & Analytics?
I began working in knowledge about 5 years in the past. Initially, I used to be learning Political Science, however I transitioned into Knowledge Transformation throughout my Grasp’s which was a means for me to use what I realized from internships in Authorized & Compliance. I took quite a lot of lessons on Analytics and Enterprise Intelligence, and determined to just accept an internship in Enterprise Intelligence within the luxurious trend trade.
If you’re engaged on Enterprise Intelligence, you get to the touch a little bit of every part about knowledge, together with metadata and documentation, understanding how knowledge flows and the techniques concerned, and structure. That’s once I realized that I didn’t actually like constructing deliverables for Enterprise Intelligence, however I did love all of the Knowledge Governance round it. It was a terrific alternative for somebody younger and junior within the trade to study, understanding individuals in each technical and enterprise groups.
Then, I used to be employed at Contentsquare to construct the Knowledge Governance crew. Again then, Knowledge Governance sat throughout the BI crew, and that was a good way to incubate the operate, as a result of we had been already part of the crew that understood the enterprise. Our concept was that Knowledge Governance would all the time be cross-functional, and that we’d hyperlink collectively Knowledge Engineers, BI Analysts, and the enterprise models. I realized loads.
Not too long ago, Knowledge Governance has moved out of the BI crew and into the Data Techniques Division (ISD), and that’s the place I stand at this time. The job is wider in scope now, the place I don’t simply take a look at Knowledge Governance. We’re rebuilding quite a lot of our techniques, so we have now to grasp structure, how knowledge flows, who owns knowledge, and knowledge high quality.
I’ve spent nearly three years at Contentsquare as a Technical Governance Professional. I nonetheless take care of Knowledge Governance, and I nonetheless work very carefully with the BI crew.
Might you describe Contentsquare?
At present, Contentsquare is a unicorn with the surroundings of a startup, with our foremost workplace in Paris, and our second-largest in New York. We’re a SaaS firm, and our foremost product helps our clients perceive their guests’ conduct on their web sites, and learn the way they will enhance their buyer expertise.
We’re organized into completely different branches, after all, like Advertising, Partnerships, R&D, Product Technique, and Folks. ISD, the place I sit, is below Finance.
Contentsquare has been round for almost 12 years, and over the previous months and years, we acquired two firms, Heap and Hotjar. We’re merging these two entities into Contentsquare, and have rebuilt and restructured quite a lot of our groups to make it possible for we’re promoting a greater product sooner or later. Exterior of merging in Heap and Hotjar, we’re engaged on constructing a single CRM and a single ERP, so there’s quite a lot of rebuilding that’s occurring.
All of this rebuilding is an enormous motive Knowledge Governance is so concerned, with everybody from the BI crew to our enterprise models, and all our individuals, whether or not they’re operational or excessive within the hierarchy, are concerned. It’s a good time for individuals to be right here, as a result of it’s very uncommon to witness a lot change in an organization, and it’s very uncommon to do it at this tempo.
Why seek for an Lively Metadata Administration resolution? What was lacking?
I feel any firm, whether or not it’s in tech or not, understands that knowledge is essential. You might want to perceive how properly your enterprise is doing, and you could function properly, normally. However Contentsquare, like every other firm and even once I labored in Retail Vogue, has struggled with an absence of belief in knowledge.
Why? As a result of, when an organization is rising, you begin to purchase increasingly more instruments, groups get larger, then they break up. Folks are likely to function of their silos and begin to generate knowledge, then we don’t know what’s getting used and what’s not getting used. Exterior of that, you could have Enterprise Intelligence groups which are intervening throughout departments to make it possible for no matter KPIs and deliverables they’ve are reliable and of fine high quality.
Again then, we didn’t have an Data Techniques Division, so that you had quite a lot of techniques and lots of people who weren’t all the time working collectively, and no single, centralized house for data. So, two or three years in the past once we had been contemplating Atlan, we had some large questions round how the crew might ship dashboards, extractions, or KPIs, once we weren’t actually positive about our formulation, the place knowledge was coming from, or who owned it.
There have been some circumstances the place there wasn’t an knowledgeable to ask a couple of system, and the enterprise had purchased a product that didn’t get good adoption, however contained nice knowledge. We wished to make use of that knowledge, however weren’t positive what we had been utilizing or the place it got here from.
In order that’s the place Knowledge Governance got here in, and that’s once I arrived with my supervisor to construct our crew.
However inside Knowledge Governance, you want Lively Metadata, you want a method to drive possession, you could perceive your knowledge, and also you want a system to centralize all that work. That’s once we had discussions round what device we wished to make use of, and Atlan was probably the greatest in the marketplace.
We wished one thing that could possibly be utilized by anybody. It was essential to us that we didn’t use one thing too technical, as a result of the extra technical the device is, the much less possible it’s that the enterprise will use it, and that’s not the route we wished to take. We didn’t need to assume that solely Knowledge Engineers and BI Analysts would use it.
We would have liked one thing that may be user-friendly, would get nice adoption, and had a terrific Buyer Success and Assist crew. So, we had quite a lot of demos again then, and selected Atlan as the most effective one.
Might you describe Contentsquare’s journey with Atlan, up to now?
Again then, I feel we wished to implement Atlan too quick, which was good in some methods, however we weren’t able to get all 1,500 individuals at Contentsquare to undertake it. We would have liked to have one thing priceless in Atlan that individuals can be occupied with so we’d keep away from pushback from our enterprise models.
So, our greatest crew for adoption was the BI crew, the place all of their deliverables are actually supported by Atlan. I imagine that’s one of the best ways to get the enterprise to undertake. It may be arduous for the enterprise to undertake a brand new device, nevertheless it’s a lot simpler once they have already got a means of working with technical individuals, who’re already utilizing Atlan.
I feel our Knowledge Governance crew grew and developed, and Atlan grew and developed alongside us. There’s quite a lot of change. Proper now, our precedence is rebuilding our structure and techniques and issues are in a little bit of a pause, however Atlan continues to be used for lots of foundational work. If there are new KPIs or updates to our reporting, we use Atlan.
What recommendation would you share together with your friends contemplating Atlan for Knowledge Governance?
Now that I’ve been within the firm for nearly three years, I do know our techniques by coronary heart, our knowledge domains by coronary heart, I do know all people, and I do know the place we stand. I now perceive the enterprise doesn’t all the time know their knowledge, and I feel we might have moved a bit slower in the beginning of our journey to actually perceive what knowledge and techniques had been getting used. It was all a bit extra sophisticated again then once we didn’t have an Data Techniques Division.
There was quite a lot of documentation and processes lacking again then, and we determined to skip some components of that to leap instantly into Knowledge Governance, once we might have spent a bit extra time understanding what we had and didn’t have, what we must always map, et cetera, earlier than serving to the enterprise alongside of their governance journey. That features Atlan and in addition Monte Carlo, the place techniques and knowledge change and it may be powerful to make certain of what knowledge high quality guidelines to make use of.
I feel the recommendation for myself, if I might return, can be to take extra time understanding the structure, the plan, and our knowledge stack, and to spend extra time with the enterprise. Even when the product is nice, there are nonetheless individuals who can have a tough time stopping what they’re doing to rebuild and transfer ahead in a greater means.
My second piece of recommendation, and I feel I’m a bit divided on this, nevertheless it’s to each “maintain the hand” of the enterprise models, and in addition attempt to make them extra accountable. As a result of we had been a brand new crew, Knowledge Governance was new, and we wished to do nice issues, we did an excessive amount of for the enterprise and so they had been anticipating loads from me and the crew. So, they by no means felt accountable sufficient for his or her knowledge.
To me, knowledge is owned by the enterprise. The techniques might be owned by a central crew, however knowledge have to be owned by the enterprise, as a result of on the finish of the day, they’re accountable for who ought to have entry to it, the way it needs to be delivered, what it’s used for, and the way in which it’s calculated. If you’re doing an excessive amount of “hand holding”, possession is tough, and it’s going to be even slower to maneuver ahead.
Normally, I imagine in taking it gradual. Knowledge Governance means a lot and nothing on the similar time. There’s loads concerned, and also you’re higher off splitting the work and never making an attempt to do all of it on the similar time. You’ll be able to’t be working in your knowledge, implementing a Knowledge Catalog, engaged on Knowledge High quality, and managing compliance all on the similar time. It’s not doable.
Lastly, Compliance needs to be an enormous precedence. I feel that is too simply put apart, when it needs to be one of many large arguments for why everybody needs to be utilizing an information catalog. I feel quite a lot of firms are likely to put that apart, pondering they’re tech-savvy and that knowledge is a website of experience, however tomorrow, for those who’re audited, it’s going to be essential.
That’s one of many causes I attempt to push Knowledge Governance as a lot as doable, not simply via the enterprise, however via something that’s associated to R&D and Product groups. Contentsquare did quite a lot of work on this, and I’m very completely happy we’ve been in a position to make individuals accountable for Compliance in every division. We had Knowledge Compliance Ambassadors that labored instantly with me and the authorized crew to work on that particular department of governance.
On the time, instruments like Atlan had been nice to have, as a result of it made issues simpler to begin someplace, to see our knowledge, and to flag it. It’s one of many issues I’ve actually preferred about Atlan.
Picture by Jason Goodman on Unsplash
