Garance is a French mutual insurer serving more than 350,000 customers. As its information systems evolved, data became increasingly dispersed across back-office applications, CRMs, and technical repositories.
To maintain efficiency and support informed decision-making, Garance launched a data governance initiative aimed at centralizing knowledge, reducing dependency on individual experts, and making data accessible across the organization.
A core principle guided this transformation: data should remain understandable and accessible — even when key experts are unavailable.
Challenges
Garance’s fragmented data landscape created several operational challenges:
- Scattered information across multiple systems and repositories
- Repetitive questions about data origin, definitions, and calculation rules
- Strong dependency on individual data experts
- Limited visibility into data flows and transformations
- Bottlenecks slowing down business users’ access to insights
The data team was spending several hours each week responding to recurring requests, limiting their ability to focus on higher-value initiatives.
Garance needed a centralized platform capable of documenting definitions, mapping data flows, and enabling autonomous access to trusted information.
Why DataGalaxy
Garance selected DataGalaxy based on three key criteria:
- Ability to centralize business and technical knowledge in a single source of truth
- Clear visualization of data lineage and transformation processes
- Intuitive interface encouraging adoption by both technical and business teams
This approach ensured that knowledge could be structured once and shared widely across the organization.
“For me, the main concrete result of implementing DataGalaxy is that I’m saving a good 3 hours a week by no longer spending time looking for answers to people’s questions. Now they log on to DataGalaxy, type in the name of the information they’re looking for, and get their answer straight away.”
DataGalaxy implementation
Garance began by documenting key processes and mapping data flows across its systems.
The teams:
- Centralized business definitions and technical metadata
- Documented calculation rules and data origins
- Identified and assigned data stewards
- Structured governance processes accessible to all users
By making data lineage transparent and searchable, Garance reduced reliance on informal knowledge held by individuals.
Outcomes
With DataGalaxy, Garance is now able to:
- Provide a continuous and accessible source of truth across systems
- Enable business users to trace data back to its origin and understand transformations
- Reduce repetitive questions directed to the data team
- Save approximately three hours per week per team member
- Strengthen self-service data practices across the organization
- Accelerate decision-making and improve cross-team alignment
As a result, Garance has achieved immediate and measurable ROI, freeing up time for higher-value initiatives and empowering teams to focus on delivering value to their members.
Key takeaway
Sustainable data governance reduces dependency on individuals and empowers self-service.
By centralizing and documenting data knowledge, DataGalaxy enables Garance to transform fragmented information into a shared, accessible asset — driving time savings, faster decisions, and stronger organizational alignment.
