Getting to Customer Dialog: An Architecture for Extending Data Governance to Customer Communications Management

Data governance (DG) has emerged as the primary tool for assuring that the information assets of an enterprise are managed in compliance with a uniform set of policies and procedures. DG is still an evolving practice, but several processes and systems are generally regarded as standard components of DG. For example, a business glossary, data dictionaries, a data quality program, and master data management (MDM) just to name a few. While customer data and product data are generally recognized as master data and are typically brought under DG through MDM, customer communications have not. As a result, many businesses are failing to realize the ultimate goal of information quality, i.e. to maximize the value of their information assets, when it comes to customer experience management (CEM). This paper describes a proposed architecture and preliminary prototype for extending the governance of customer master data and product reference data to include customer communications and preferences. The design is proposed in terms of a set of data stores, APIs, and policies that help to manage both the automation and complexity of customer communication activities. Data Governance, Master Data Management, Customer Communication Management, Customer Preference Management, Customer Experience Management, Voice of the Customer