The rising importance of data management

Steve Leeper at Datadobi argues that businesses will drive greater value out of data if they refine their approach to managing it

 

If data really is to become the ‘new oil’, then in 2025, businesses should focus on refining their approach to data management instead of treating it as a crude and unsophisticated resource. For instance, there remain too many organisations out there whose approach to collecting, organising, and transferring raw, unstructured data focuses on where it is stored rather than how it is managed. This has to change if they are to drive the latent value that their data almost certainly contains and meet emerging requirements, such as analytics and AI.

 

From creation to archiving, effective data management depends upon building infrastructure and processes that ensure the most appropriate data is included in data lakes so organisations can build effective solutions. In the next 12 months, more businesses will focus on driving maximum value from their data estate, including those focused on its role in innovation, decision-making and compliance. For the rest, 2025 is likely to be characterised by the continuing challenge of managing vast amounts of underutilised, siloed information, which drives little or no business value.

 

To embrace the massive opportunities that effective data management can bring, organisations must place greater emphasis on deploying advanced data orchestration tools, cloud-native architectures and scalable storage solutions to manage both structured and unstructured data. By integrating disparate data sources and operationalising its management, businesses will gain the visibility they need into key trends, improve compliance and mitigate risks such as data breaches or regulatory penalties.

 

For example, data integration—the process of combining data from various sources—is most effective when data assets are harmonised, compatible, and fully available for further use. For this strategy to work, data must be accurate, consistent, complete, and relevant, a set of requirements that rely on effective data management. When combined with robust data governance, organisations can improve their approach to various important tasks, from compliance and risk management to efficiency.

 

In doing so, they can evolve from claiming to be data-driven, implement processes to release its full value and use data-led insights to actively shape their success.

 

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Steve Leeper is VP of Product Marketing at Datadobi

 

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com and pcess609