What you are looking up there is a populated desktop of one of our colleagues – Sssh, don’t let this information get leaked. We hope, you can acknowledge the mismanaged and disorganized data, stacked in different folders. The mess would just get even messier if we were to open one of these folders, which in itself stores even more stacks of data.
We are out of here!
Basically, the point of the snapshot was not to highlight the attributes of mismanagement—our colleague is very organized and likes to manage every little detail of his work, but it was more a representation of what uncontrolled data is doing to him, to us, to you and to everyone:
Making it more difficult, to manage the generated data.
And, this is just a small sample.
When you talk about teams, departments and the organization on whole, the data set gets even bigger with each successive link up.
Now consider managing this data.
You have to acquire it, you have to validate it, you have to store it, you have to protect it and you have to process it to ensure that the data is accessible, reliable and up-to-date for use.
It’s pretty evident that data management comes with a set of challenges.
That doesn’t mean you sit down and cringe in frustration. Today, we will present the top 5 data management challenges (discussed in random order) and will help you overcome them.
Data Management Challenge – Storing the Data
There is your customer data. There is your client information. There is the information that concerns your investors. There is the information about your rivals. There is a complete data set structured around your business operations. There is information about your business transactions. There is information about market research and channels.
There is information, and more information; data and stockpiles of data—everywhere, generated every second. And, the more data is collected, the larger is the data storage requirement. Moreover, it’s not just about storing this data; it’s about storing it safely.
The Solution
Well, you can’t just utilize the magnetic disks available at your disposal. Depending on your needs, you need a much larger data storage bank to accommodate the strings of bytes.
Well, you can use network attached storage solutions. You can use cloud based solutions. You can invest in data libraries. You can leverage a solution that combines all these options.
Just make sure, whichever data storage solution you use, it must offer high level of protection and security features, like data encryption, network encryption and authentication systems. You have to protect the stored data.
Data Management Challenge – Increased Focus on Regulation Compliance
According to AIM Global Reference Data Management Survey, regulatory compliance has been one of the major data management challenges that organizations have to face.
Regulatory compliance basically implies that the acquisition, storage and exchange of data should comply with industry standards specified for that particular type of data. One example is the medical data which needs to be handled as per HIPAA standards. Failing to comply, can lead to severe legal consequences.
The Solution
You need to invest in data management solutions which are designed in compliance with the set standards, rather than looking to deploy ad hoc solutions. There are many turnkey solutions available in the market in terms of file sharing, cloud storage and document management systems.
Data Management Challenge – Handling the Access
When you are dealing with data management, you also have to handle the accessibility aspect of the process. Sure you have lots of data, but it is of no use if it can’t be communicated. You need to figure out and establish:
- Who needs access to your data?
- How much access does an individual should be conferred with?
- Who should have the control over data management decisions?
The Solution
First of all you need to sit down and draft a plan about the way your data is intended to be used.
Your sales department will need the customer history record and transaction records. Your marketing team will need the data that relates with the market research and promotional and advertising campaigns. Your customers may need the information of the invoices. Your QA department will need the batch processing information.
Once you have identified the possible routing of stored data and decided on the limit of accessibility, you then need to assign administrators (the fewer, the better) and grant them the privileges of regulating and monitoring access controls.
Data Management Challenge – Integrating the Data
With varied structured data, all dispersed across different channels, probably the biggest challenge comes in form of integrating the collected data.
- The receipt and expense data, stored on one software platform may need to be imported to an accounting platform like QuickBooks.
- Similarly, customer data gathered from social media channels, Google Analytics, emails and other modes may need to be integrated together to present it in one comprehensive buyer persona report.
- Likewise, it could be the need to export contact into a CRM or email client application from a scanning software.
The Solution
Deployment of adaptive technology is the solution in this case. Turnkey database management solutions are available in the market that can automate relationships between different databases, allowing efficient communication and access between remote and disparate data stores. These solutions come equipped with features that present the collected data into valuable representations.
Data Management Challenge – Converting Unstructured Data into Structured Data
Presently, majority of data throughput is yielded in the form of unstructured data. This data is of no use until or unless it is structured, which promises to carry revealing insight and valuable business intelligence. This is the next challenge in data management.
The Solution
The solution lies with using automation systems to actively classify the unstructured data, adding system metadata and user metadata, and eliminating any encountered redundancy to successfully transform it into structured data.
Every process is characterized with challenges, and data management is no exception to this rule. However, as discussed and proposed, each of the challenges associated with data management can be successfully handled, opening endless possibilities for businesses to leverage the power of data for un-scaled growth. For further details get in touch with Noel Network & PC Services, Inc.