Liberty Global Director of Data Dee Samra reveals how she’s changing perceptions around data governance at the telecoms company
Less-data-driven organizations often view data governance as a bit of a headache. But as Dee Samra, Director of Data at telecoms firm Liberty Global, says, it doesn’t have to be that way.
In this debut episode of our brand-new Business of Data podcast, Samra talks to Corinium’s Catherine King about how she’s establishing data governance as a key value driver at the company.
“[Data governance] is an enabler,” she says. “Focusing on the benefits that data governance will bring to leverage new technologies – that’s where you’ll get that buy-in and get that ‘sell’ to get [staff] to engage.”
“It’s people on the customer-facing parts of your workforce that are going to notice [data quality] issues,” she adds. “The first step is really just making people think about it.”
“Now, somebody has to be accountable for data,” she continues. “That’s never had to happen before. Because that accountability is there, it starts making people question the data that they have.”
Key Takeaways

Data governance is a value creator – promoting data governance as a key enabler for exciting new technologies such as AI is the key to securing buy-in for it
Build a strong business case – focus on linking good data governance to better business outcomes while also stressing the company’s regulatory obligations
Raising awareness is key – establishing data ownership and getting people to question where the data they’re using comes from are essential data governance ‘first steps’