A double means-end relationship for data

Abstract

It appears that, in an increasingly digital world, data is becoming more and more important for organizations. In several real-world cases in the Netherlands, we have seen that organizations struggle with issues such as: a) What data do we have? b) Which data do we need for value creation? c) Which strategic choices do we make around using data? d) Which strategic choices do we make around managing data as an asset? And e) Which skills do our people need in light of the previous items? The context for these organizations is different, but the challenges are the same. Our position is that the use of models can help to get to grips with the complexity of the aforementioned challenges. In this paper we explore a) the relationship between data and models, and b) a framework that connects data management as a means to care for data as an asset, and data as a means to achieve strategic objectives of the organization. In developing the latter, we follow a design science approach; we explore cases to understand challenges and requirements for such a framework as well as show how the framework helped to solve the challenges in these organizations.