VIDEO | Navy Federal Data Steward: Adding Value to End User Drives Successful Change Management

(US and Canada) Katie Cassin, Business Unit Data Steward, and Zach Jenkins, AVP, HR Analytics from Navy Federal Credit Union, speak with Robert Lutton, Vice President at Sandhill Consultants and Editorial Board Vice Chair at CDO Magazine, about the role of a data steward in business, the organizational goal, change management strategies, and making data management a part of the process.

Cassin begins the discussion by stating that Navy Federal Credit Union has been serving the military, their families, and veterans with 350 branches worldwide and over 20,000 employees. She describes her role as that of a strategic partner between the IT and the business units.

Speaking further about her role, Cassin explains that she works with enterprise data governance to meet all regulatory requirements and follow best practices. She stresses that to be a great business partner, one needs to cultivate solid knowledge of the data and IT sides of the business. Therefore, Navy Federal has a business unit data steward.

When asked about the data strategy, Cassin reckons that data is part of all the organizational processes and urges organizations to approach the data strategy as another change initiative. She focuses on understanding the company processes with a strategy and end-users in mind for the desired output.

Next, Cassin shares that Navy Federal constantly thinks of the challenges faced by the military community and aims to be the most trusted financial institution for the community. She concurs with actively researching the members’ needs through technology and process improvements that result in predicting needs and better service.

Furthermore, Cassin believes that adding value to the end user is the key to all successful change management initiatives including data. She notes that communicating the value add and the ‘why’ behind the change is critical to get the buy-in to drive change with data.

Delving deeper into change management, Cassin opines that it requires an understanding of the entire process and urges employees to work intentionally to get the desired result. She emphasizes developing an effective, and relevant data ecosystem to cater to ever-changing organizational needs.

Then, Cassin recommends identifying pain points within the entire process and thinking about making a holistic change. She asserts that organizations that begin with the end in mind acquire efficiency.

Regarding measuring the impact of change management, Cassin suggests finding measures that align with what the leadership is trying to achieve. In addition, she states that the ultimate goal of the data sector is to provide analytics faster so that leadership can make data-driven decisions.

Sharing his POV, Jenkins states that completeness is the most common metric used in data governance and management. However, completeness is not always the best metric to measure the benefits of data protection. He adds that the analytics team's focus is to ensure data protection, and it is crucial to give people the least restrictive permissions allowing them access to the things they need.

Thereafter, he maintains that the organization has been able to provide reports quickly due to the infrastructure it set up during the pandemic. It has also been able to launch data products quickly due to the investment in infrastructure.

In conclusion, Jenkins states that the goal is to make data governance and data management part of the process, making it more nimble and agile. Without it, products may not be as secure as organizations want, leading to potential consequences.

CDO Magazine appreciates Katie Cassin and Zach Jenkins for sharing their insights and data success stories with our global community.