State chief information officers (CIOs) and state chief digital officers (CDOs) recognize the importance of high data quality — especially as a critical determinant of successful artificial intelligence (AI) — but a majority have concerns about data quality, according to a new report released by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) and Ernst & Young LLP (EY US).
The report, Is Your State Data Quality Ready for GenAI?, has reportedly “surveyed CIOs and CDOs from 46 states, revealing that the biggest barriers cited to maintaining high quality data are budget constraints, skill shortages, organizational awareness and competing priorities.”
Key finding: 95% of respondents think increased adoption “of AI and generative AI (GenAI) is impacting data management.”
And while the majority of respondents (89%) consider data quality “to be important, less than a quarter (22%) have a dedicated data quality program.”
Reactive data quality management: Nearly three-quarters of respondents (72%) consider their approach as “reactive” or merely “aware,” which reflects the tendency to view data quality as a technology agency’s responsibility rather than a cross-departmental concern.
Importance/budget disconnect: Most respondents (72%) report low to no “alignment of funds budgeted toward data quality initiatives, with a majority of respondents (83%) reporting minimum budgetary alignment and 15% reporting no budgetary alignment.”
Lack of data leaders: Less than half of respondents (41%) have “a dedicated data management lead/officer, revealing a talent gap in critical data roles to effectively govern data.”
Finally, the update includes recommendations “for state CIOs and CDOs around managing data quality, including providing data literacy training to the government workforce and implementing formal data governance policies.”
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