Driving Knowledge Belief, High quality, and Governance with Atlan
The Lively Metadata Pioneers sequence options Atlan clients who’ve accomplished a radical analysis of the Lively Metadata Administration market. Paying ahead what you’ve realized to the following information chief is the true spirit of the Atlan neighborhood! In order that they’re right here to share their hard-earned perspective on an evolving market, what makes up their fashionable information stack, progressive use instances for metadata, and extra.
On this installment of the sequence, we meet Kenza Zanzouri, Technical Governance Knowledgeable 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 information about 5 years in the past. Initially, I used to be finding out Political Science, however I transitioned into Knowledge Transformation throughout my Grasp’s which was a method for me to use what I realized from internships in Authorized & Compliance. I took numerous courses on Analytics and Enterprise Intelligence, and determined to simply accept an internship in Enterprise Intelligence within the luxurious vogue trade.
If you’re engaged on Enterprise Intelligence, you get to the touch a little bit of every thing about information, together with metadata and documentation, understanding how information flows and the methods 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 be taught, understanding folks in each technical and enterprise groups.
Then, I used to be employed at Contentsquare to construct the Knowledge Governance workforce. Again then, Knowledge Governance sat throughout the BI workforce, and that was an effective way to incubate the perform, as a result of we had been already part of the workforce that understood the enterprise. Our thought was that Knowledge Governance would all the time be cross-functional, and that we might hyperlink collectively Knowledge Engineers, BI Analysts, and the enterprise models. I realized so much.
Just lately, Knowledge Governance has moved out of the BI workforce and into the Data Methods Division (ISD), and that’s the place I stand right this moment. The job is wider in scope now, the place I don’t simply take a look at Knowledge Governance. We’re rebuilding numerous our methods, so we’ve got to know structure, how information flows, who owns information, and information high quality.
I’ve spent nearly three years at Contentsquare as a Technical Governance Knowledgeable. I nonetheless take care of Knowledge Governance, and I nonetheless work very carefully with the BI workforce.
Might you describe Contentsquare?
At present, Contentsquare is a unicorn with the surroundings of a startup, with our major workplace in Paris, and our second-largest in New York. We’re a SaaS firm, and our major product helps our clients perceive their guests’ conduct on their web sites, and learn the way they’ll enhance their buyer expertise.
We’re organized into totally different branches, in fact, like Advertising, Partnerships, R&D, Product Technique, and Individuals. 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 corporations, Heap and Hotjar. We’re merging these two entities into Contentsquare, and have rebuilt and restructured numerous our groups to make it possible for we’re promoting a greater product sooner or later. Outdoors of merging in Heap and Hotjar, we’re engaged on constructing a single CRM and a single ERP, so there’s numerous rebuilding that’s occurring.
All of this rebuilding is a giant motive Knowledge Governance is so concerned, with everybody from the BI workforce to our enterprise models, and all our folks, whether or not they’re operational or excessive within the hierarchy, are concerned. It’s a good time for folks 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 believe any firm, whether or not it’s in tech or not, understands that information is necessary. It’s essential to perceive how effectively your small business is doing, and it’s essential to function effectively, generally. However Contentsquare, like another firm and even once I labored in Retail Vogue, has struggled with a scarcity of belief in information.
Why? As a result of, when an organization is rising, you begin to purchase an increasing number of instruments, groups get greater, then they cut up. Individuals are inclined to function of their silos and begin to generate information, then we don’t know what’s getting used and what’s not getting used. Outdoors of that, you have got Enterprise Intelligence groups which can be 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 Methods Division, so that you had numerous methods and lots of people who weren’t all the time working collectively, and no single, centralized area for info. So, two or three years in the past after we had been contemplating Atlan, we had some massive questions round how the workforce might ship dashboards, extractions, or KPIs, after we weren’t actually positive about our formulation, the place information was coming from, or who owned it.
There have been some instances the place there wasn’t an professional to ask a few system, and the enterprise had purchased a product that didn’t get good adoption, however contained nice information. We wished to make use of that information, 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 workforce.
However inside Knowledge Governance, you want Lively Metadata, you want a option to drive possession, it’s essential to perceive your information, and also you want a system to centralize all that work. That’s after we had discussions round what device we wished to make use of, and Atlan was among the best available on the market.
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 seemingly it’s that the enterprise will use it, and that’s not the course we wished to take. We didn’t wish 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 Help workforce. So, we had numerous demos again then, and selected Atlan as the perfect one.
Might you describe Contentsquare’s journey with Atlan, to this point?
Again then, I believe we wished to implement Atlan too quick, which was good in some methods, however we weren’t able to get all 1,500 folks at Contentsquare to undertake it. We would have liked to have one thing beneficial in Atlan that individuals could be fascinated by so we might keep away from pushback from our enterprise models.
So, our greatest workforce for adoption was the BI workforce, the place all of their deliverables are actually supported by Atlan. I imagine that’s one of the simplest ways to get the enterprise to undertake. It may be exhausting for the enterprise to undertake a brand new device, but it surely’s a lot simpler after they have already got a method of working with technical folks, who’re already utilizing Atlan.
I believe our Knowledge Governance workforce grew and advanced, and Atlan grew and advanced alongside us. There’s numerous change. Proper now, our precedence is rebuilding our structure and methods and issues are in a little bit of a pause, however Atlan remains 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 along with your friends contemplating Atlan for Knowledge Governance?
Now that I’ve been within the firm for nearly three years, I do know our methods by coronary heart, our information domains by coronary heart, I do know everyone, and I do know the place we stand. I now perceive the enterprise doesn’t all the time know their information, and I believe we might have moved a bit slower initially of our journey to actually perceive what information and methods had been getting used. It was all a bit extra sophisticated again then after we didn’t have an Data Methods Division.
There was numerous documentation and processes lacking again then, and we determined to skip some elements of that to leap immediately into Knowledge Governance, after 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 likewise Monte Carlo, the place methods and information change and it may be powerful to make certain of what information high quality guidelines to make use of.
I believe the recommendation for myself, if I might return, could be to take extra time understanding the structure, the plan, and our information stack, and to spend extra time with the enterprise. Even when the product is nice, there are nonetheless individuals who may have a tough time stopping what they’re doing to rebuild and transfer ahead in a greater method.
My second piece of recommendation, and I believe I’m a bit divided on this, but it surely’s to each “maintain the hand” of the enterprise models, and likewise attempt to make them extra accountable. As a result of we had been a brand new workforce, 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 so much from me and the workforce. So, they by no means felt accountable sufficient for his or her information.
To me, information is owned by the enterprise. The methods will be owned by a central workforce, however information 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 difficult, and it’s going to be even slower to maneuver ahead.
Normally, I imagine in taking it sluggish. Knowledge Governance means a lot and nothing on the similar time. There’s so much concerned, and also you’re higher off splitting the work and never attempting to do all of it on the similar time. You’ll be able to’t be working in your information, implementing a Knowledge Catalog, engaged on Knowledge High quality, and managing compliance all on the similar time. It’s not potential.
Lastly, Compliance needs to be a giant precedence. I believe that is too simply put apart, when it needs to be one of many massive arguments for why everybody needs to be utilizing an information catalog. I believe numerous corporations are inclined to put that apart, pondering they’re tech-savvy and that information is a site of experience, however tomorrow, should you’re audited, it’s going to be essential.
That’s one of many causes I attempt to push Knowledge Governance as a lot as potential, not simply via the enterprise, however via something that’s associated to R&D and Product groups. Contentsquare did numerous work on this, and I’m very glad we’ve been in a position to make folks accountable for Compliance in every division. We had Knowledge Compliance Ambassadors that labored immediately with me and the authorized workforce 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 information, and to flag it. It’s one of many issues I’ve actually appreciated about Atlan.
Picture by Jason Goodman on Unsplash
