Driving Knowledge Belief, High quality, and Governance with Atlan
The Energetic Metadata Pioneers collection options Atlan clients who’ve accomplished a radical analysis of the Energetic Metadata Administration market. Paying ahead what you’ve realized to the subsequent 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 trendy knowledge stack, progressive use instances for metadata, and extra.
On this installment of the collection, we meet Kenza Zanzouri, Technical Governance Skilled 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 purposes. 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 finding out Political Science, however I transitioned into Knowledge Transformation throughout my Grasp’s which was a manner for me to use what I realized from internships in Authorized & Compliance. I took plenty of courses on Analytics and Enterprise Intelligence, and determined to just accept an internship in Enterprise Intelligence within the luxurious style trade.
While you’re engaged on Enterprise Intelligence, you get to the touch a little bit of all the things about knowledge, together with metadata and documentation, understanding how knowledge flows and the programs concerned, and structure. That’s after 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 a good way to incubate the perform, as a result of we had been already part of the workforce 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 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 immediately. The job is wider in scope now, the place I don’t simply have a look at Knowledge Governance. We’re rebuilding plenty of our programs, so we’ve got to grasp structure, how knowledge flows, who owns knowledge, and knowledge high quality.
I’ve spent virtually three years at Contentsquare as a Technical Governance Skilled. I nonetheless take care of Knowledge Governance, and I nonetheless work very carefully with the BI workforce.
Might you describe Contentsquare?
Immediately, Contentsquare is a unicorn with the surroundings of a startup, with our essential workplace in Paris, and our second-largest in New York. We’re a SaaS firm, and our essential 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 totally different branches, after all, like Advertising and marketing, Partnerships, R&D, Product Technique, and Folks. ISD, the place I sit, is beneath 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 plenty of 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 plenty of rebuilding that’s taking place.
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 Energetic Metadata Administration answer? What was lacking?
I feel any firm, whether or not it’s in tech or not, understands that knowledge is vital. You’ll want to perceive how properly your corporation is doing, and you want to function properly, normally. However Contentsquare, like some other firm and even after I labored in Retail Trend, 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 inclined 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. Outdoors of that, you’ve got 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 Methods Division, so that you had plenty of programs 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 workforce may 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 instances the place there wasn’t an professional 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 after I arrived with my supervisor to construct our workforce.
However inside Knowledge Governance, you want Energetic Metadata, you want a strategy to drive possession, you want to 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 the most effective in the marketplace.
We wished one thing that could possibly be utilized by anybody. It was crucial 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 need to assume that solely Knowledge Engineers and BI Analysts would use it.
We wanted one thing that might be user-friendly, would get nice adoption, and had a terrific Buyer Success and Assist workforce. So, we had plenty of demos again then, and selected Atlan as the very best one.
Might you describe Contentsquare’s journey with Atlan, thus far?
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 folks at Contentsquare to undertake it. We wanted to have one thing priceless in Atlan that folks could be fascinated about so we’d keep away from pushback from our enterprise models.
So, our greatest workforce for adoption was the BI workforce, the place all of their deliverables at the moment are supported by Atlan. I consider that’s one of the best ways to get the enterprise to undertake. It may be onerous for the enterprise to undertake a brand new device, nevertheless it’s a lot simpler once they have already got a manner of working with technical folks, who’re already utilizing Atlan.
I feel our Knowledge Governance workforce grew and advanced, and Atlan grew and advanced alongside us. There’s plenty of change. Proper now, our precedence is rebuilding our structure and programs 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 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 programs 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 may have moved a bit slower firstly of our journey to actually perceive what knowledge and programs had been getting used. It was all a bit extra sophisticated again then once we didn’t have an Data Methods Division.
There was plenty of documentation and processes lacking again then, and we determined to skip some components of that to leap immediately into Knowledge Governance, once we may have spent a bit extra time understanding what we had and didn’t have, what we should always map, et cetera, earlier than serving to the enterprise alongside of their governance journey. That features Atlan and likewise Monte Carlo, the place programs and knowledge change and it may be robust to make certain of what knowledge high quality guidelines to make use of.
I feel the recommendation for myself, if I may return, could 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 manner.
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 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 knowledge.
To me, knowledge is owned by the enterprise. The programs could be owned by a central workforce, however knowledge have to be owned by the enterprise, as a result of on the finish of the day, they’re liable for who ought to have entry to it, the way it ought to be delivered, what it’s used for, and the best way it’s calculated. While you’re doing an excessive amount of “hand holding”, possession is tough, and it’s going to be even slower to maneuver ahead.
Generally, I consider 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 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 potential.
Lastly, Compliance ought to be a giant precedence. I feel that is too simply put apart, when it ought to be one of many large arguments for why everybody ought to be utilizing a knowledge catalog. I feel plenty of corporations are inclined to put that apart, pondering they’re tech-savvy and that knowledge is a website of experience, however tomorrow, should you’re audited, it’s going to be crucial.
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 plenty of work on this, and I’m very blissful we’ve been in a position to make folks liable 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 start out someplace, to see our knowledge, and to flag it. It’s one of many issues I’ve actually appreciated about Atlan.
Photograph by Jason Goodman on Unsplash