Data & Databases - Data Governance Strategy

Having a team in place to build out the program ensure proper data collection, holistic data sharing, and battle-hardened data security - all critical to overall data compliance and data protection.

If multiple departments across a business are collecting data via separate silos, their goal should be to have tools and measurement processes in place to ensure consistent data. Consistent data between different business segments reduces waste and creates an implicit check to the single source of truth.

A Data Governance Strategy is necessary for security - capturing and establishing physical and technological entry points for accessing data. Encrypting customer data is paramount when using data collection tools, and has never been more of an issue as it has in recent years.

Controls over access become increasingly complex across large organizations where acquisitions and subsidiary companies abound. These access control issues can disrupt and slow the organization's ability to deliver. As such, creating usable, workable access control processes is vital, and pays dividends when performed properly.

Enterprises begin to feel the pain their weak data governance strategy when data becomes mishandled, transformed incorrectly, or compromised—resulting in costly regulatory fines, and thrashed public reputation. But putting together a solid data governance team and strategy can recapture losses and reshape the data footprint in short order.

Having a dedicated team focused on a data collection strategy ensures a clear understanding of the who, what, where, and why of data. This focus produces data that is valuable. Proper data management determines how data sharing is overseen, delegated, utilized, and maximized.

Businesses should always look for ways to leverage analytical data. Data should be usable and produce results that are reliable and understandable. Compromised or improperly transformed data creates instances where analytics tools produce skewed outputs.

Data privacy is a must. Data governance strategy must include compliance standards that comply with both national and international privacy laws. With so much personal data floating around it is critical there is a strategy in place to ensure consumer information is safe.

Businesses are increasingly focusing on data collection and management, but the methodical approach to measurements is also vital. As such, the governance strategy must include the rules, guidelines, and principles for the measurement of data. ETL, ELT, and data integration processes need to be tapped into, capturing key metrics on a holistic level.

Companies rely on data to understand consumer habits and forecast business goals. Whether a across a single database or multiple databases, a successful governance strategy aligns with company goals and creates a database management system that functions, saves time, and produces quality, useable data.