“We'll end up with five versions of every number”
Head of Data Governance · Data and analytics
A Head of Data Governance who fears five versions of every number has probably already seen it happen. Their job is one trusted answer. Don't promise self-service without risk. Ask where the numbers disagree today: which metric causes the most arguments, and who owns its definition.
Practise it before the real call
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What the buyer says
If business users build their own reports, we'll end up with five versions of every number.
How to handle it
Listen
Hear "five versions". The worry is trust in the numbers, and what happens when business users define metrics their own way.
Acknowledge
Agree that inconsistent numbers damage trust, and that self-service without governance makes it worse.
Explore
Ask which metric causes the most arguments today: revenue, active customers, margin. Ask who owns its definition, where it's written down and how often reports disagree. Ask what controls they'd need before letting business users build reports.
Respond
Show how your product keeps shared definitions in one place, and how governance would work: who can create metrics, who approves them and how users can tell an official number from a personal one.
Say this
“That's a real risk. Once the numbers disagree, people stop trusting all of them.”
Say this
“Which metric causes the most arguments today?”
Say this
“Who owns its definition, and where is it written down?”
Variations
- CFO: “I need one version of revenue, not one per department.”
- Chief Data Officer: “Self-service sounds great until the board gets two different numbers.”
Questions people ask
How do you respond when data governance worries about inconsistent numbers?
Agree that inconsistent numbers damage trust. Ask which metric causes the most arguments and who owns its definition, then show how your product keeps shared definitions in one place and how governance would work for business users.
How do companies keep one version of the truth with self-service analytics?
Usually by defining key metrics centrally, controlling who can create or change them, and making it clear to users which numbers are official.
More objections in Data and analytics
- “Moving would mean rebuilding everything”
- “Our budget is going on AI, not analytics”
- “We've just standardised on one BI platform”
- “People still make decisions in spreadsheets”
Practise it before the real call
Free to start. No credit card.