Today, the world’s most valuable resource isn’t oil or gold, but data. The same is true for your company – its data is its most valuable asset. A business that doesn’t comprehend the importance of effective data management is less likely to survive in our information-driven economy.
The last thing you want to do is to spend resources and time acquiring data and business intelligence, only to lose or misplace it later on. Rather than having to spend additional time and resources to collect again that same business intelligence you already had, you should focus on understanding the ins and outs of data management. Below we will explain what data management is and how a strong data management plan can help your company.
What is data management?
Data management is the development and execution of a combination of processes, tools, policies, practices, procedures, tools and technology that manage the information gathered by a company and ensure that the information is adequate for all organizational functions. Data management involves the following functions: practicing the disciplines in the development, execution, and supervision of policies, plans, programs and practices that secure, control, provide and enhance the accuracy and value of data within the business
Efficient data managing within most corporations has risen in importance in recent years as organizations are subject to an increasing number of compliance regulations such as KYC (Know Your Customer), AML (Anti-Money Laundering) and CT (Counter-Terrorism). Other factors that have facilitated its growth are large increases in storage data capacity and the sheer amount of information and documents generated by organizations.
Data verification – an integral part of data management
Any data management system needs to provide complete, consistent and precise data across the enterprise. Data verification has become an important factor for many businesses. Some can’t thrive or even survive without having verified data since accuracy is necessary for the company’s overall successful operation. There are many benefits to hiring outside assistance for your data verification.
For one, outside firms like Datazoo specialize in data verification and will be more of an expert that your internal departments. This brings an increased safety to the process, while the work will often cost less as an outside, specialized firm can obtain economies of scale. All information and documents have to be verified by professionals or tools consistently and comprehensively which is why quality data verification is so important to today’s business environment.
Benefit #1 – Increased profits and cost-efficiency
Since companies have to internally manage everything, core business functions often suffer from Inaccurate and unverified data. Wrong decisions restrict the growth of profits and sales. While it does take time and resources to verify data regularly, it is usually a crucial investment. Verified and accurate data facilitates proper decision-making that boosts profits and sales
Moreover, a quality data verification process results in a possible reduction of the costs an organization has. Adequate data facilitates optimization of decisions, which in turn facilitates the betterment of services, products, and numerous other business functions. When efficiency across the corporation is ensured, costs will be reduced.
Benefit #2 – Better overall decision-making
Numerous corporations utilize various sources of information for trends analysis, planning and performance management. Within a company, different employees may even use different sources of data to perform the same task if there is no data management process and they are unaware of what is the correct source of information.
The value of the data is only as good as the information source. In essence, it is the old idea of garbage in garbage out. This means that those responsible for decision-making across the organization are often analyzing different numbers in order to make decisions that will affect the business, which can lead to poor or inaccurate conclusions without an adequate data management system. Conclusion errors, data entry errors and processing inefficiencies represent possible risks for businesses that don’t have an efficient data management plan and system.
Benefit #3 – Defense against security risks
There are many risks involved if your data is not managed adequately and your information falls into the wrong hands. For example, Yahoo was prey to a data breach in which 3 million user accounts were compromised. The breaches knocked an estimated $350 million off the company sale price, as it was in the middle of negotiations to sell itself to Verizon. A strong data management system deters the risk of this ever happening to your business.
As time passes, data management will be more and more important for any business wanting to thrive and survive in today’s overly digital environment. Small investments can go a long way, especially if you’re looking to optimize your processes, improve decision-making and increase profits and cost-efficiency.
