By now, data breaches are so common that we wait for new headlines and companies every week, seriously. So why are companies so bad at managing data? Is it because they lack resources or knowledge? Are they engaging with unsavory third parties? Or do they just don’t care? Are more hackers targeting personal data? Is there too much data to handle?
Unfortunately, all are very real reasons why breaches have become a typical occurrence. The sheer volume of digital data produced everyday is immeasurable and many companies simply don’t have the expertise or resources to govern all of it, further threatening consumer safety.
The less internal data management your business employs, the less visibility and security you have.
More than just security
Data management is a necessity for data security but is also a requirement for active, successful growth. Thought security is important to prevent data breaches, it’s not a one-stop process. From data ingestion and storage to visualizations and decision-making, data must be well managed. If it’s not, the chance of disaster is significantly higher which risks our personal data even more. Having an architectural foundation that validates big data is only the beginning. Do you have a database, migration, storage, routing, or wide user accessibility?
- Are you able to confidently say all parts of the data flow are functional and accurate?
- If there’s an issue, can you identify exactly where, why, or how it came about?
- Do department reports corroborate the same data story?
- Is the data quality able to provide clear insights?
It’s only after answering questions like these that teams can safely use the data for analytics.
Analytics for miles
Digital data should be analyzed to improve performance but we know that’s not as simple or straightforward as it sounds. Analytics in finances, marketing, operations, etc are all separate processes with different specific goals. Finance may want to build a report about profits for shareholders whereas marketing would assess the ROI on advertising though a live dashboard.
Analytics can reveal key insights like:
- Internal inefficiencies
- A need for better UI design to increase interaction
- Better metrics to track
Ultimately, these insights will lead to a streamlined decision making process and performance.
Your data?
With the rise of digital data, industries are adopting new roles and strategies. And if all the data breaches have taught us anything, it’s that data is invaluable.
Check out our work and let us know how we can help your data needs.