ORLANDO, FL—“We've put two stakes in the ground,” says Ian Cameron, COO of OSCRE International, the real estate information standards body. “The first is that in order to be able to manage information as an asset, data governance is a crucial component. The second one is that as you layer in emerging technologies, it makes the problem so much more difficult.”

Accordingly, he tells GlobeSt.com, “data governance is turning out to possibly be the new pot of gold. If you get it wrong, you're in trouble. If you get it right, you're ahead of the game.”

To help OSCRE members get it right, the organization is launching the Data Governance Certificate Program through the OSCRE Academy, commencing June 21 and running through March 2018. “It's a Web-based program with live presentations, and there will be playbacks available,” explains OSCRE CEO Lisa Stanley. “It covers 10 different areas that we believe are critical to developing an effective data governance program. We've scheduled the sessions three to four weeks apart, which enables participants to implement what they've learned in each session back in the workplace.”

She adds that by the time the participants have reached the end of the 10-part series, “they will have a much better understanding, but also some application-oriented approaches that will live on beyond the participation in the OSCRE Academy.”

Stanley tells GlobeSt.com that among the factors that led OSCRE to devise the certificate program was “doing an assessment of the industry in terms of the skill sets that are needed today and into the future as we look at how fast technology is advancing. It became clear that there was a 'skills gap' for individuals within organizations to be effective stewards of the data that drive business decisions. We decided that there was a need within the industry to develop a data governance program, and we wanted to make it easy for people to access,” hence its presentation as a series of webinars.

“We've seen the growth of information as a critical asset in real estate operations and real estate companies, and the growth of data governance has been coming along almost haphazardly,” says Cameron. In situations where an organization has a number of partners performing external functions involving data, integrating them into the organization's own information fabric is important too.

“What's started to happen is that huge holes of potential risk are opening up, whenever you extend a business in multiple points of connection,” Cameron says, likening the multiple connections to a spider's web or the tentacles of an octopus—take your pick. “Even before you think about emerging technologies, that level of dispersing major sources of information creates a major challenge. Smarter companies are going hard at this whole concept of data governance,” he says, citing TIAA and financial institutions among the comparatively early adopters.

Stewardship of data, which is among the concepts that the Data Governance Certificate Program aims to drive home, isn't confined to tech-savvy executives such as the chief information officer. The program is intended to give participants across the savviness spectrum the necessary skills to effectively manage the information that comes to them from both internal and external sources.

And on the subject of emerging technologies, OSCRE is focusing on blockchain technology, launching an initiative this summer to explore its impact and potential applications. “You can't talk about emerging technologies without having a standardized approach to the information that's fed into those platforms,” Stanley says, adding that that's where standards-setting organizations such as OSCRE have an advantage.

GlobeSt.com will take a closer look at the blockchain initiative in the coming weeks. For more information on OSCRE's Data Governance Certificate Program, click here.

Accordingly, he tells GlobeSt.com, “data governance is turning out to possibly be the new pot of gold. If you get it wrong, you're in trouble. If you get it right, you're ahead of the game.”

GlobeSt.com will take a closer look at the blockchain initiative in the coming weeks. For more information on OSCRE's Data Governance Certificate Program, click here.

Instant Insights /

Planting Technological Stakes in the Ground

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