Implementing Data Sharing in a Multi-Stakeholder Ecosystem

Information flow is complex, but it does not seem so for most of the stakeholders involved. At a high level, data flows from the originator and passes through various data handlers and eventually reaches the data consumers. Now this would have been complex enough had the data remained in its original packaging, but we know, data is re-organized, filtered, translated and aggregated. This affects the roles and responsibilities of each of the links in the flow of data. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the implication of these processing points and to amend the contract that is attached to the data being processed.

This contract needs to define the meaning of the data, its origination, the constraints imposed by its originator (which need to include the data owners' rights) and the scope, or conditions, which apply to the data. This could be implemented in various ways, but should not be locked into a single medium or format, since most data can be transported over various mechanism and the contract would be relevant regardless of the mode of storage or representation.

To provide an optimal control over data, you need to consider several elements:

1. Holistic flow chart: starting from origination and extending through the data flow's life cycle as far as possible from a practical and risk/value proposition perspective.
2. Governance body: together with the stakeholders who manage the links in the data flow, determine the policy and processes to follow to ensure initiation, use and retirement of data. This would include everything from quality control, issue resolution, data life management and related responsibilities.
3.  Internal governance controls: develop measures and processes to ensure compliance with the data ecosystem policy, while ensuring compliance with related policies around the internal business components which handle the data. For example: while you need to ensure you keep customer data for as long as it legally permissible, you also need to consider whether keeping it for that long serves a purpose and value to the business (as well a cost of maintenance and prolonging of handling risk)

The point is that there is an important thread for information handling, which is often ignored, and is often the source of risk exposure, conflicts, misunderstanding and a barrier for value enhancement. This thread is the need to consider data in an EXTERNAL ecosystem. Most data is not isolated to your business. It co-exists with customers, vendors, policy makers and others. To succeed in this challenge, one needs to stitch a business vertical ecosystem with a horizontal data life ecosystem. A significant portion of this horizontal ecosystem exists outside your business and control, and the challenge is to accept this, identify the risk and opportunities within this fluid position and create and govern the right mechanism to maximize the benefits (short and long term) for your business.