I'll save you the gory technical details, so in short, Responsive Design is a way to display website content in a manner that is informed by the tool or interface that the site is being viewed through (phone, tablet, desktop, etc). This is a major shift in designing websites as the layout of the site can now shift in response to the frame (browser) through which its being viewed, as opposed to being a static set of pages on the internet. The benefits of responsive design are many and with the quick moving internet these days, websites that do not support responsive design are quickly becoming dated, clunky and down-right hard to use. Pinching and widening sites on your mobile phone is out. Sites where the flow of content fits the device appropriately are in.
How does this apply to data? Why should you care about website design theory when discussing your organization's data management challenges?
1) The data train has left the station. Much like your website, there is no "putting it on hold" now. Sure, you can step on the gas or hit the brake, but stopping is not an option. Data and Information Management will require continuous investment not simply because a client or regulator say so, because that's the way we all work today. Get on board.
2) The challenges that responsive design is attempting to tackle for websites are the same challenges you're looking to respond to with data. Your data, and its delivery, must now be smart enough to respond to the context that a user wants it in. An analyst is looking for one thing, while an accountant is looking for another. A marketing rep needs data in one form, while a client service rep needs it in another. Data and information management have always focused on getting the right data at the right time; now it needs to be delivered in the right context.
The drag that bad data puts on your business is difficult to quantify but it is the equivalent of pinching, expanding and navigating a website on your phone over and over. When you're thinking about analogies that can demonstrate why your firm needs to invest in data, break out your phone and bring up citisoft.com and an older, static site then ask stakeholders and senior executives if they can live with the past.