Mention data governance to many corporate executives and you might get eye rolling and a quick change of subject. Business leaders are more focused on revenue rather than meeting regulatory demands. But the rise in enterprise data has also brought government-driven demands for privacy and protections that are forcing companies across the world to adopt tools to meet new requirements.

“Governance is a very abstract concept. Most people want to run away from anything close to governance,” said Sanjay Saxena (pictured), senior vice president of enterprise data governance at Northern Trust Corp.

Saxena visited theCUBE, SiliconANGLE’s mobile livestreaming studio, and answered questions from hosts Dave Vellante (@dvellante) and James Kobielus (@jameskobielus) during IBM Fast Track Your Data in Munich, Germany. They discussed the evolution of a data governance program within Saxena’s company and IBM’s involvement. (* Disclosure below.)

Company had little data governance four years ago

Northern Trust, an international financial services company, did not have a significant data governance program four years ago. But market conditions and the expectations of government regulators led the company to develop a robust data control and management program that has slowly gained buy-in from the various department leaders.

“They are accepting the work we are doing, and they want to be a part of it,” Saxena said.

One of the motivations for developing data governance is the General Data Protection Regulation, which requires that companies protect the personal information of European citizens and be able to track where the data flows. The laws go into effect in 2018, and penalties for non-compliance are steep.

Northern Trust has moved to meet these new requirements by creating one central repository for all metadata and implementing a process to easily identify any sensitive information. Attention to data governance has actually improved company operations, according to Saxena.

“Customer names and addresses being wrong may not be much to a regulator, but it is really important to our business,” he said.

Saxena turned to IBM for help with data governance because it offered an end-to-end suite instead of segregated tools provided by other vendors.

“We’ve been able to make it a single integrated solution, and that’s really benefited us,” Saxena stated.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s independent editorial coverage of the IBM Fast Track Your Data event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for IBM Fast Track Your Data. Neither IBM nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE