Trusted data is becoming a cornerstone of competitiveness as more organisations embrace analytics and AI. Eoin O'Reilly explains why
Data plays a crucial role in almost every aspect of our lives. How our food is produced, how we interact with public services, how we manage our finances, how healthcare is delivered—all are critically dependent on data and how organisations use it.
While the ability to leverage data is rapidly becoming a competitive differentiator for organisations, their challenge lies in the degree to which they can trust the data they use.
Trust in information is becoming increasingly important as a new wave of artificial intelligence (AI) innovation blurs the lines between internal and external data.
Published in December, The EY Ireland Trusted Data Report 2023, surveyed eight public and private sector organisations to establish how far advanced they are on data usage, AI adoption and data trust.
Irish organisations demonstrated a strong understanding of the need for trust across the data lifecycle, the survey found, while progress had been made on key elements of the trust journey.
Data that isn’t subject to continuous oversight cannot be fully trusted. It must be subject to constant verification and validation from the point of collection all the way along its journey to its use in analytics and AI.
Data trust continuum
As organisations embrace the increased use of analytics and AI, more must be done to extend and formalise the data trust continuum. With the rise of AI and generative AI (GenAI), in particular, the issue of data trust has assumed even greater significance.
A breach of trust at any point on the continuum can have potentially devastating consequences for the organisation and society.
Strong governance and data management are critical for data trust. There needs to be a more holistic approach to building data trust in organisations.
This starts with determining how data aligns with business strategy and runs through to data control across the data lifecycle and its responsible use.
Organisations need to develop a comprehensive framework that balances strategic vision with the appropriate management of risks and controls.
EY’s survey reveals that organisations are at various points on their data trust journeys, with the strategic focus shifting to how data can be leveraged to add value to the business.
They have robust data governance and compliance frameworks in place, but there is acceptance that these are merely the starting point on their journey along the data trust continuum.
Irish organisations recognise and appreciate the crucial importance of data trust for their business operations.
While there is a significant variation in the data maturity of organisations, they understand the need for continuous management and data monitoring at every point along the trust continuum.
They are taking a wait-and-see attitude to AI, but they must take care that this does not mean they miss out on valuable opportunities.
Eoin O'Reilly is Partner and Head of Data, Analytics & AI at EY Ireland. You can more about the EY Ireland Trusted Data Report 2023 here.
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