The salience and urgency of enterprise data management in the public sector

In this emerging topics paper, we argue that enterprise data management is a key enabler for new and innovative uses of data. Given widespread recognition of the public value potential of these new uses of data, enterprise data management capability is increasingly salient and recognized as urgent. We further argue that creating capability for enterprise data management is poorly understood. However, since enterprise data management is a future practitioner imperative, new research from the digital government community addressing the challenges to creating such capability is required. We illustrate the salience and urgency of enterprise data management through three vignettes that highlight the potential of such efforts to reorganize the public sector along new data oriented lines. A focus on the role of governance and the chief data officer as key enablers to creating public value from data highlight the need for research in these areas.