Do you worry about your data governance framework and the policies and procedures you use to organize it? In today’s business environment, it is important to have high quality data your organization can use. Poorly managed data can cause havoc for your business, or at the very least keep it from making the revenue it should.
What Is Data Governance (DG)?
DG is the management of all your business data. It is the organization of the data to make it usable and available to all team members without compromising the security of the company or the data. A sound governance program means you have established a set of procedures that make the data available and usable by all team members. So how do you implement this into your organization? The following are 5 tips to help your team achieve better data management.
Make Data Available
Data is only useful if it is easily available and managed. It needs to be easy to use and maintain. Yes, there may be some data you need to limit or keep confidential, especially if it is information that is sensitive to your company or your customer. But that doesn’t mean you should ignore all of your data and simply store it away in some unknown cubby hole. Data can help you make the most of your business efforts, so it is important and your customer data should be used, you just need to filter and organize it so it is more manageable and easy to analyze. This is the most important step to setting up a good data system and providing the information the different departments in your organization need. Governance is about finding the appropriate tools to process the data and make sure it is well organized and stored correctly.
Train Team Members to Use It Consistently
All of your personnel needs to have manageable data available to them at all times. However, the information offered needs to be current and up to date. Data management procedures must be organized. This way all the data works for the entire organization and the information needs to be available to both management and personnel.
To make this possible in a safe and friendly way, your data team needs to be able to handle any situation. They need to have resources at their fingertips. Increased and consistent data decreases problems your team might have with communication. Your data team needs to handle the data functioning well.
Decide on The Type of Data Your Team Needs
You can allocate all kinds of data, but there comes a point when there is just too much information. An excessive amount of data can also make your company prone to data breaches and give your IT team even more security issues. Statistics show that about 33% of all stored data is not required or used for any purpose. Sure, you can store all the data (even the stuff you don’t use) for future use, but do you really think you will need it? That is the question you must always ask yourself when it comes to data governance. Too much information is just as detrimental as too little.
Data Needs to Be Easy to Analyze and Give Team Members Insight into An Immediate Response
Your data needs to be consistent across the board. All team members need to be able to immediately analyze the metrics and take action on the areas that need change. This is an area that needs to be considered when working on the procedures used to handle your data.
Be Aware of Security and Compliance Regulations
You and your team want to avoid a data breach at all times. This type of situation can be very expensive to fix. However, you can avoid it by following all security and compliance laws. Teach employees about data security and give them the tools that give them solutions to possible security issues.
If you think about your data management and take note of the necessary steps to make your data work for you then you can easily come up with a data governance process for your business. Read up on the trends and on issues quickly. Stay on top of the data game. Remember, governance is ongoing and every member of your team needs to be involved. Using your customer data efficiently offers you better insight into your business and helps your company make better business decisions. Using proper governance methods can increase your company’s revenue substantially.
