Experian enters the data governance market

Experian is best known for its credit information services, however it is also a long-time data quality software provider. With an estimated 6,000 customers it has a growing share of the global data quality market by volume. Its Aperture Data Studio software identifies and corrects errors in data such as customer name and address and can enrich such data with additional information. Until now, Experian has not directly had data governance functionality, instead relying on partnerships for this when needed. However, in September 2023 it incorporated IntoZetta into its portfolio, a Leeds-based data quality and data catalogue vendor that enables and manages corporate data governance policies.

This seems a sensible move by Experian. Data quality initiatives are rarely stand-alone projects these days. They are often initiated as part of broader data governance initiatives, sometimes in response to government regulation. Data governance, in which business people are assigned ownership of key data like “customer” and “product”, is highly complementary to data quality. It can be argued that proper data governance is a pre-requisite for success for such projects, since business stakeholders ultimately need to improve data quality.

This combination will allow Experian to be considered in a broader range of data management projects that span data governance as well as data quality. With more and more vendors offering software suites that span areas such as data migration, master data management, data governance and data quality, this move will help Experian be more credible against such competitors. For IntoZetta the move also makes sense. The vastly greater sales and marketing clout of Experian will allow IntoZetta to reach a much broader audience than was ever likely as a stand-alone vendor.