Hippolyte Lefebvre, Ph.D.
Researcher in Data Management
My purpose is to empower employees and organizations to harness the power of data.
Hippolyte Lefebvre
Ph.D.
Researcher in Information Systems
My purpose is to empower employees and organizations to harness the power of data.
My Research Purpose
Scaling Enterprise Data Practices
Many firms still struggle to create business value. This challenges mainly stems from an overemphasis on technological enablement, which overlooks the crucial integration of data activities and methods—known as data practices— into the daily tasks of a growing and diverse workforce.
My research focuses on explaining how companies scale their data practices so that how employees can effectively combine data with domain expertise. Specifically, I investigate the interplay between data democratization—which empowers more employees to work with data—and data governance, which coordinates this expansion.
Data Democratization
Ever wondered about the concept of data democracy? Companies have made becoming data-driven a goal. Yet many are still struggling to create value from their data. Data democratization transcends mere accessibility for a few; it entails a shift towards an inclusive culture where every employee feels empowered to use data in practice. My research investigates how to develop data practices beyond data experts.
Data Governance
Data governance is a prerequisite for scaling enterprise data practices. It is a cross-functional framework for managing data as a strategic enterprise asset. However, data governance has been mainly studied as a control function, overemphasising data protection, incompatible with the growth of data practice in organizations. My research rethinks data governance as a coordination function orchestrating data practices.
Want to know more about the 5 pillars of data democratization?
Many companies have made becoming data-driven a goal, and yet many traditional organizations are still struggling to democratize data beyond the data experts.
In our recent HBR article, we state that companies must adopt a new management paradigm to truly democratize data, and offer 5 pillars to create a “data democracy”.