Businesses today are powered by data. This data needs to be high quality and manageable but also compliant with rules and regulations. In order to ensure data is manageable and secure, data governance protocols provide better control and organization.
The process of data governance refers to the effective management of technology, processes, and even people within a company or organization. Read on to learn why it's the future of business.
Why Data Governance Is So Important
Although data governance may seem rigid, it's actually a way for companies to have more flexibility and precision when using data sets. Data governance also works to eliminate confusion and weak spots in a security approach. It governs standard use procedures for all pieces of data within a company.
The heart of data governance is organization — rules for storage, transfers, and use of data in any capacity. When data governance is in place, it helps prevent company liability regarding stored and managed data. This drastically reduces data breaches and other security concerns.
When data governance is in place, everyone working within a company must adhere to the outlined policies. Those guidelines shape how team members use information, including decision-making.
Without data governance, employee strategies for protecting information can vary. This leaves sensitive information about the company or customers vulnerable to attack or accessible to cybercriminals.
Cyberattacks, data breaches, and other related occurrences can cripple a company. These violations create a situation of operational downtime and fines for violating compliance laws and regulations such as GDPR and CCPA. That's why it's critical to have measures in place that control company policy for all employees.
Data Governance Best Practices for Business
Using best practices through data governance allows a company's data assets to be discoverable, trustworthy, and secure.
When implemented correctly, data government practices create information that's high quality and easy to understand. The result is the elimination of incomplete, unusable, or incoherent data. Some points to consider when implementing data governance can include:
- Who has certain roles and responsibilities for data governance
- What regulations are essential for compliance
- Ensuring employee compliance
- Protecting data during transfers
- Outlining data handling protocols
While contemplating data governance rules, also consider identifying what defines critical data elements and what type of architecture best suits the company's needs.
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Areas of Focus
Data governance covers a few key areas within a company. The first best practice for effective data governance is to have a team handle data governance protocols.
This team oversees data management within the company and ensures employees follow data governance procedures. Each company sets its own policies regarding data management and architecture.
It's crucial to ensure each employee understands their company's data management protocols and comprehends them completely. Clear-cut, concise language is the best way to make policies clear.
While making policies clear, it's also a best practice to ensure company employees know what shapes these rules for data management and why they are in place.
It's helpful to instruct each individual team member on data protection laws and the potential consequences and penalties companies face when data breaches occur. While some companies don't have these features and architecture in place, they will as data management and security evolve.
To ensure data management procedures are taken seriously and followed by each person, have some form of oversight team in place. They can discover use-related issues within the company before they can cause damage or data leaks.
Additionally, they can catch errors and other related problems and even identify areas where regulations are modified to accommodate changes and guard against threats both internally and externally.
What Data Governance Looks Like for the Future of Business
The more businesses grow and integrate technology, the more pressing the need for data governance for all digital businesses and organizations. Data management and security must evolve along with ever-changing technology and the demand for gathering and managing data.
The next generation of data governance is already making its way into mainstream business and providing a better data management framework for those companies.
In the not-so-distant future, the data governance procedures aim to allow for a more proactive approach allowing for better collaboration and intuitive processes, with trusted data sets.
It may seem daunting to change existing data governance to accommodate the latest developments. However, rest easy knowing that implementing better data governance practices is easier than you think.
That's because it's possible to repurpose the existing data governance framework for your company. The newer generation of protocols is easier to integrate, given the right tools and conditions.
The new data governance procedures rely on internal insight from individuals who know the nuances of their company. They know where to focus attention, such as data domains, operations, and critical data elements.
To make the process of data governance integrations easier and more manageable, consider harnessing the power of high-performing ETL service providers.
How Integrate.io Can Help
Integrate.io is a top ETL solution for companies relying on data pipelines and data flows to keep business running. Integrate.io offers its customers access to ETLG (Extract, Transform, Load, and Governance). This process occurs before data sets are deposited into a data warehouse.
The ETLG process allows for the adherence to rules and regulations with the minimum required transformations to ensure company compliance.
The Integrate.io way will enable companies to eliminate the old complex process of transforming and coding data before the transfer, thus modernizing data transfer protocols and procedures. This is the future of data governance, and it's available through Integrate.io's range of services and add-ons for ETL.
To find out more about Integrate.io's approach to data governance or to see for yourself how they can transform the way business data is managed and transferred, reach out to a representative today. Don't forget to sign up for a 14-day demo to determine if these services are a good fit for your company.