Whether you’re a small or a large enterprise, you need to consider data as one of the most essential assets of your company. But what is the use of data if it is not available when you need it, or some part of it is missing, outdated, or inaccurate?
Both, excess and shortage of data can be harmful to a company, which is why it is crucial to have a data management strategy in place. The first step in creating your company’s data strategy should involve determining what kind of data is most needed. There is also a need to focus on how the data will be stored and processed, and how it will be protected against loss, cyber-attacks, or data breaches.
If you want to manage your data, then this article is for you. We’ve compiled the best tips and tricks to help you manage and get the most out of your data.
Data Management Tips
Here are some smart tips for data management:
#1: Identify your data management goals
Before you begin with data management activities, you need to clearly understand your business’s overall goals.
Here are a few examples of data management goals your business might have:
- Improve data availability
- Implement good security and confidentiality practices
- Improve decision-making
- Create a solid database of customers or sales and marketing teams
- Maintain a long-term structural integrity of the system
Once your company goal is clear, you need to understand what data is needed for you to meet these goals. You can build your data management strategy from there. These priorities will help keep things organized and allow only relevant information to help you achieve your goals, meaning less time is wasted trying to get things done.
#2: Create a data management process
Think about how you will collect, prepare, store, and distribute the data. Identify who are the owners or stakeholders you think are responsible for performing the data management activities. Consider the following questions while creating a data process.
Data Collection
- What type of data will you need – structured, unstructured, or a combination of both?
- What will be the source of your data?
- What will be the process of data collection?
Data Preparation
- What kind of data requires processing? For example, personal data, financial data, customer data, etc.
- What will be the process of transforming raw data into presentable data for data analysis?
- What tool or technology solutions will you use to build a strong data infrastructure?
Data Storage
- Where will you store your data?
- How will you secure your data?
Data Analysis & Distribution
- Which team or persons will have access to the data?
- How will you communicate data insights internally?
#3: Protect and secure your data
The increased use of data has created an opportunity for organizations of all sizes to improve their services and customer experience. But it also comes with new responsibilities that must be taken seriously, such as establishing proper governance around your company’s information assets so they can thrive in this environment safely without compromising privacy or security standards.
Things that you need to consider here are as follows:
Data availability: You need to ensure that your data is always available.
Data transparency: You need to ensure that your data is accurate, up-to-date, and easily accessible.
Data privacy: You need to ensure that the right people have access to the data.
Data security: You need to take proper steps to secure your data.
Check your security status quickly using a free Security Assessment Tool.
#4: Embrace data backup and recovery
You must prevent data loss by being diligent with your backups and prepared with a data recovery plan. Here are a few points to consider:
- Copy everything in a USB (it is great for short term backup, but vulnerable to malware or physical damage)
- Back up data in the cloud
- Plan a strategy for data recovery
Or you can use a backup solution to keep every bit of your data safe, even in times of disaster. Investing in a good backup and recovery solution makes economic sense, and it is much cheaper than most traditional methods adopted by organizations.
#5: Train people and implement
Without having the right skills to analyze the data, organizations face major hurdles in using it effectively. This can be solved by providing the knowledge and tools for analysis within your team and obtaining approval from IT leaders so that they are prepared to support your data management initiatives. Whatever it looks like, make sure everyone understands their role within the said plan and knows how to best execute their role.
Conclusion
We understand that you want to be ahead of the trend. With so many experts talking about big data and analytics, who can blame businesses for jumping on board? But we caution businesses to not run before they can walk – without a solid plan in place. Before everything else, you need to develop robust policies that ensure the security, accuracy, and integrity of your data. Otherwise, your analysis will be flawed, and your data will be vulnerable.
We recommend that you put security and compliance at the forefront of any new plan. From there, you can build this foundation.
