Trusted Data is Driving Information Governance Investments

Continued calls for deregulation may sound like the death knell for information governance (IG), but such investments may prove to be more vital than ever for businesses now and into the future.

Regulatory compliance is no longer the biggest driver for IG. Rather, it is the need for trusted data in all forms of business transactions – including mergers and acquisitions – as more companies adopt digital capabilities. In fact, this is precisely what many organizations are using to justify shifts in their own corporate compliance programs.

Data Flows Matter

First, corporate business records in a digital format are more accessible to enforcement investigations. Auditors and forensic investigators can digitally detect violations through real-time supervision of corporate digital data, such as SEC supervision of market trading in the financial sector. Second, it is far easier to share digital records among governments, enabling cross-border investigations and enforcements in highly regulated (and often complex) industries and markets.

Both shifts have made it easier for information governance to justify the spending on their work, as well as related improvements to corporate compliance programs.

With countless stories emerging of falsified business information and records, more rigorous due diligence of corporate records and information has become a starting point for increased information governance. No commercial transaction of any meaningful value will move forward without increasingly rigorous validation of the integrity of the data / records involved. Mere promises of legal compliance and properly disclosed any violations are just not enough anymore.

Spend Money to Make Money

Here is the new business case for information government investment: Companies that spend less on IG are discovering frugality impairs both their agility and ability to create wealth during commercial transactions.

Conversely, organizations that invest more in IG have realized less expensive direct due diligence costs, deals valued more for their key qualities and greater trust – both for the information that fuels the negotiations and the structure of the final deal.

Trust as Currency

Trusted information is the essence of a business deal – from supplier purchases to mergers and acquisitions. And that is the essential deliverable effective IG investments provide: trust in the digital records that will be evaluated, vetted and ultimately influential in the pricing and structure of the deals themselves.

Via data licensing, big data analytics, and beyond, trusted digital information is the most substantive business asset today. Companies will succeed or fail based on how well they establish trust in their data. Looking forward, this will be the driver that matters. After all, when did effective compliance ever create new wealth? What creates wealth is trusted information.

Fork in the Road

Those companies that understand the value of engineered, well-designed IG are the ones that will dominate their markets in the years ahead. Those who continue to undercut IG investments and funding in the expectation that lower compliance demands will justify those cuts will find themselves falling behind.

Tomorrow’s technology is shaping business today. To learn more about how MNP can help you improve your information governance initiatives, contact John Desborough, Director Consulting and Technology Solutions at [email protected].