Data governance is a critical area in enterprise data management. You need to define rigorous rules, policies, and procedures on who can access your data and what they can do with the data to ensure data consistency, accuracy, quality, and safety. It enables you to build a structured framework to keep the data clean, organized, compliant with regulations, and secure. Without proper governance, you put your data at security and privacy risks. More than technology, governance is about strategy. You need to monitor and control data flow without interrupting or hampering transactional or analytical processes. This brings in the need for seeking data governance consulting services from trusted partners. Let’s discover more in this blog.
Benefits of data governance
Enhanced data quality and accuracy
Data governance consulting services help enterprises manage the accuracy and quality of the collected data, which leads to accurate insights to make the right decision at the right time. Poor data quality costs huge to enterprises. Therefore, it is very important to have a data governance framework in place to prevent such costly errors.
Improved compliance, risk management, and data security
Adhering to data regulations and standards is critical for entrepreneurs to ensure the quality of the data. Enterprises investing huge in data governance consulting services experience building customer trust, operational efficiency, and better compliance with security standards. Some common standards, such as GDPR and CCPA, that enterprises should comply with to ensure data safety.
Cybersecurity is becoming one of the biggest threats to enterprises. The average cost of a data breach was $4.45 million – IBM. A robust data governance framework implements data encryption, security measures, and control measures to minimize risks.
Improving operational efficiency and reduce costs
With data governance consulting services, enterprises streamline their data processes, leading to reduced data waste and inefficiency. Clear data and streamlined processes reduce the time spent on resolving data-related problems.
What are the common challenges for effective data governance
Data chaos
With the advent of business applications and other digital technologies, the volume of data generated each day has been increasing tremendously. Data generated from diverse sources in different structures and formats needs to be properly organized and cleaned before acting on it. But this process has been chaotic for many businesses due to the lack of a proper governance strategy. Enterprises need a robust data governance framework to manage the increasing volume of data.
Data silos
Data comes from different sources and in different formats that pose a challenge for organizations to unify or centralize them in one place. This impacts negatively on the data quality causing inaccuracies and duplication in the data. With the help of the right data governance consultant, enterprises can have a centralized data management system to integrate and organize all data in one place.
Data regulations
Your business data includes the data of your customers, vendors, and partners. To protect the interests of individuals and their privacy, regulatory bodies such as GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA issue strict guidelines and governance frameworks for businesses. You need to ensure adherence to these compliance requirements, failing to which can attract hefty penalties. Regulatory non-compliance can also impact your brand reputation, which can cripple your business growth.
Data ownership and responsibility
Data is not the sole responsibility of a CDO. There should be ownership and responsibility defined for data management in the entire organization. Having ambiguity in data roles leads to data inaccuracies. A solid data governance framework defines clear roles and responsibilities among the team members.
Data governance best practices
Did you know enterprises that have a robust data governance approach in place are better at making faster decisions, improving their decision-making capability in real-time.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach for implementing data governance practices because every enterprise is unique, and so are its needs, budget, and IT infrastructure. However, here are a few best practices that every enterprise can apply:
Start small
Every business should start with small objectives and look for quick wins initially.
Set measurable and clear goals
It is pretty simple: you cannot control what you are unable to measure.
Define ownership and responsibilities in the team.
Data governance is not an isolated activity. Rather, it is a teamwork wherein every team member is responsible for specific deliverables.
Map existing infrastructure, architecture, and tools.
While building your data governance framework, it is important to map your existing infrastructure according to the business goals and keep all the required tools ready.
Connect with certified experts.
It is always recommended to connect with certified data governance consultants to get your data journey started.
Conclusion
Data governance is not only about setting frameworks for data quality and data security standard compliance; it is about driving business performance and innovation. We live in a world where data is no longer a byproduct of a process but has become a big asset for enterprises. They just need to understand the process to make the right use of the data. It is a non-negotiable factor for enterprises to turn their data into a powerful asset with the help of data governance consulting services. Enterprises can connect with certified experts, such as the Saxon AI team, to get started with their data governance consulting services journey.
