Data catalogs sit at the intersection of self-service analytics, data governance, and metadata management. They are a key ingredient of a successful data and analytics program. They facilitate self-service, improve data quality and governance, and help business users discover data. 

Most companies plan to implement a data catalog soon if they have not done so already. But challenges await. Customers find some data catalogs are complex and hard to use and it’s sometimes difficult to convince business people to use the data catalog. 

Data catalogs are a first step in helping companies govern their data assets and expand usage of data to drive business insights and value. Once business users know what data they need, they then need to go get it. For that, companies need to implement self-provisioning mechanisms and enterprise data access controls, which are part of a data governance platform. 

Key Takeaways

• Almost half of companies (48%) have partially or fully implemented a data catalog and 44% are planning to.
• More than two-thirds of companies (69%) implemented a data catalog to foster self-service and improve data governance.
• Data catalogs have met expectations to a “high” or “very high” degree in a third of companies (33%)
• User adoption of data catalogs is a struggle: only 18% of organizations say users have adopted the data catalog to a “high” or “very high” degree.

*Bonus Content*

The Data Catalog Evaluation Excel spreadsheet provides a scoring framework for evaluating and ranking multiple data catalog products. It consists of 12 categories, 31 capabilities, and 200+ features for comparing and contrasting data catalog products. You can tailor the criteria and weights to your organization's requirements. The tool makes it easier to create a product shortlist and rank products by objective criteria. The screenshot shows the spreadsheet functionality.