Chances are, you’ve heard that data catalogs are an instrumental tool in the success of data-driven organizations. From assessing the quality of your data to reducing the time to find the correct data … these are critical, game-changing advantages. But is buying an expensive piece of software your only option, or is it possible to build your own? If you can build your own, should you?

This presentation will cover the pros and cons of buying vs building a data catalog, and when you should do either. We will examine where your valuable metadata is commonly stored and how you can extract it to increase the understanding of your data and increase business value!

Questions we will discuss are:

• What are the advantages of having a data catalog (of some type)? Who should use it?
• How do you get started building your own data catalog? Where can I find all that valuable metadata? What can I do with the metadata?
• Who are the main players in the “buy” data catalog space? What do these tools do and how much do they cost?
• When should I “build” and when should I “buy” a data catalog?

Speaker: Ted Martin

Ted currently works as the Senior Data Analyst on the Data Operations Team at CARFAX Canada. Ted is an enthusiastic, outside-the-box thinker, who masters new skills or technologies extremely quickly. Like many data professionals, his career path was not straight-cut. Ted started programming and building websites at the young age of 12 and built his first database at age 16 (all self-taught). He studied at Western University (Ontario, Canada) with an Honours Degree in Medical Sciences. To gain a greater global perspective, Ted spent 2 years traveling and studying overseas in China. Before finding his calling working in data, Ted banked a few years of experience in retail sales management and business development, giving him a balanced mind on both the business and technology side of solving problems.