Regardless of the type and size, the amount of valuable data available to any organisation will be steadily growing. It is essential, therefore, that senior management understand just how vital it is to implement and continually evolve a robust Data Management Strategy.
Unfortunately, this is not always the case.
Within a feeble economic climate, Data Management is often viewed, misguidedly, as an unnecessary expense. In truth, the cost to your business is often much greater if a comprehensive Data Management Strategy is not implemented.
The Problem
Any company will require concise information about their enterprise when communicating between departments and with clients. This “information” is more than likely derived from your company’s pools of “data”.
When different types of data are stored in disparate locations and within different systems, it can be difficult to manage and integrate them. This often leads to lack of data governance, poor data transference and skewed figures, amounting to poor data quality overall. The information that can be drawn from poor data will be flawed.
For example, the skewing of figures owing to disconnected data sources might have the same product represented in two different ways in more than one system. This will become a headache when trying to understand how that product is performing. Inaccurate, unmatched data can give you several versions of the same outcome. So, which do you trust? How do you make the right decision?
Replicate this poor decision-making across a number of products and business areas and you will begin to understand the long-term cost implication of poor data management.
The Solution
Harnessing your data and ensuring its quality will begin to allow you to understand exactly what your business needs in order to grow and evolve.
The key to making the most of your data lies within your data management processes, as these are what will ensure that your data quality is high.