There is no shortage of pundits and experts proclaiming the value of corporate data. Many note that it will be the new “currency” of business, or the “oil” that powers business. This is accurate, but when a CIO or CEO looks at making data their corporate currency, they find that there is a long way to go. Currency can be defined as “a standardization of money (or data) in any form and is in use or circulation as a medium of exchange”. Currency is consistent, known, and universal. Unfortunately, in most organizations, data is not. The question is how to get from the current state where data, unlike money, is distributed, siloed, and inconsistently defined, to a future state where it is indeed used and managed much like money is today.