How many PR companies have a data governance strategy?

I recently claimed that one of the curious paradoxes of PR companies working in the technology sector is that while they pump out information on behalf of their clients regarding best IT practice, etc, the number of agencies with a robust and properly documented data management strategy is rare.

Mr Waddington at Rainier pulled me up on this and commented: “I can’t believe that in 2008 most agencies don’t have a data management policy or a centralised media management system and tools.”

Interesting therefore to read in the latest issue of Information Age about the results of a survey into data governance in UK companies generally. From a poll of 279 organisations of varying sizes, the magazine found that 42pc had a formal data governance strategy – which means 58pc do not. Admittedly, 27pc hope to implement one in the next 6 – 12 months. But that still leaves nearly a third of businesses without a data governance strategy.

According to Information Age: “It seems clear that many of the obstacles to driving a data governance strategy forward are largely cultural, stemming from both the upper echelons of the organisation and the rank and file. In 30pc of cases, ‘obtaining organisational buy-in’ proved the chief challenge, a problem that seems to stem from a general lack of ‘ownership awareness.’ Indeed, it seems the data governance evangelists are chiefly those in middle management, who are flanked by the disinterested or the unenlightened.” Sound familiar?

If Wadds is right, then the PR consultancy sector is a shining example to the rest of British industry in terms of data management and governance. The reality, I suspect, is that the PR consultancy world is no better or worse than than any other UK business sector on this particular matter.