Building capacities in data management: insights from the first NTO Data Governance webinar
Learn more about the NTO Data Governance initiative here.
On 7 August, the first in a series of three webinars took place, part of an initiative by the Network of Tax Organisations (NTO) in collaboration with the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT), aimed at enhancing data governance and information management capabilities within tax administrations.
The virtual event "Data Governance at a Glance: from Theory to Practice" was moderated by David Borja, Executive Operations Manager at CIAT. The webinar attracted 140 participants from revenue administrations from all over the world affiliated to NTO member organisations and was conducted in Spanish, with simultaneous interpretation available in English, French, and Arabic.
During the webinar, the Secretariat of the NTO introduced three key resources developed over the past year to strengthen the data management and governance capacities of tax authorities. These resources include a virtual course on Data Governance, set to launch in the last quarter of this year; French and Spanish translations of CIAT's manual “Data Governance for Tax Administrations: A Practical Guide”; and a series of three online events designed to deepen participants' understanding through theoretical presentations, practical case studies, and real-time exchanges with international experts.
The manual is available for download in English, Spanish, and French.
The second presentation was delivered by Erick Echeverría Mazariegos, Director of Revenue at the Superintendency of Tax Administration (SAT) in Guatemala.
Erick Echeverría gave an in-depth review of Guatemala's experience with Data Governance. Faced with the significant increase in information generated by digitalisation, Guatemala took a crucial step towards Data Governance in response to the segmentation of information sources and the substantial growth in data volume. “It was time to organise and standardise,” he noted. In 2018, Guatemala initiated a cultural shift towards data management in the tax administration domain. The SAT identified widespread lack of general awareness about the impact of data quality and now aims to become a "data-driven organisation," with a defined management strategy that enables strategic, data-based decision-making. Currently, SAT is developing a framework for data-driven decision-making with measurable outcomes.
Echeverría emphasised the importance and value of data through various practical examples within the strategic context of tax administration, including control strategies, anomaly detection, and revenue determinants.
He also highlighted the lessons learned by Guatemala during its organisational cultural shift towards data. Among the most significant were the importance of change management, creating synergies between all involved teams, and the need for a flexible and adaptable organisational structure to accommodate internal and external changes.
Following the presentations, the virtual chat was filled with questions from tax administrators across different countries and time zones, demonstrating a high level of engagement and interest in Guatemala’s experience. Key concerns included future perspectives on data-driven decision-making, the necessary steps and tools for modelling data management, and the application of governance principles such as transparency, sustainability, participation, equity, and integrity in tax collection. Other participants showed interest in data security measures, particularly regarding the implementation of anonymisation solutions to protect information.
This webinar, along with the peer exchanges that followed, underscores the importance of such events for knowledge sharing, experience exchange, and mutual learning. It also highlights the value of the NTO as a forum and platform for promoting practical and highly relevant exchanges towards improving tax administration.