For data producers to take on the responsibility of providing better quality data—and to do it well—they need to have incentives that align with their work. There are many ways to do this. Every organization that has grown beyond a start-up needs a way of incentivizing multiple teams to work together to build something of value for the business.

One effective approach is a top-down strategy. By aligning strategic objectives that rely on the creation and utilization of high-quality data, organizations can optimize their structure to facilitate collaboration among relevant teams. Additionally, employing key performance indicators (KPIs) and other prioritization methods can ensure that teams are held responsible for their contributions toward achieving this goal.

For example, if you’re tracking data incidents, you could create KPIs around the number of incidents, their severity, and how common the root causes are. While you will...