A Guide to Data Governance for Businesses

It’s crucial for businesses to plan how they will store and manage their data in advance. There are many key reasons why businesses need to track the data which they collect carefully. To discover some of these reasons as well as how you can better manage your business’ data, simply continue reading to discover a handy guide to data governance for business.

A guide to data governance for businesses:

Data is one of your business’s most important assets:

You may be surprised to learn that the data which your business collects is one of your business’s most important assets. However, critical information is priceless as stats such as your sales stats and customer preferences can help you make better-informed business decisions. For example, you may want to alter your future orders, as a result of your sales data. As you may discover that a particular collection of products is not selling well, while some of your business’ other products may be in hot demand.

You need to carefully manage your data in order to meet your business’ growing legal obligations:

Another key reason you need to manage your business’ data properly is in order to meet your business’ legal obligations. Especially as regulations around the storage of data are getting more and more complex in order to protect the rights of businesses’ clients. For example, your business may need to prove that it safely stores all of its customer data such as your customer’s names and addresses. As it’s now a legal requirement that businesses be able to prove that they have taken measures to safeguard their customers’ sensitive details. Businesses are also required to be able to locate and delete their customers’ private details at their customers’ request.

Infographic created by Donnelley
Financial Solutions, a data
room provider

Make sure that the data that you collate is classified efficiently:

There’s no point storing data that you can’t easily access. One of your first priorities should be to organize your business’ systems in a clear and efficient manner so that you’ll be easily able to access specific information with little fuss. Remember that it’s important to master data management, in order to be able to access specific information easily and quickly.

Assign the management of different data systems to highly qualified individuals:

As part of your overall plan to manage your data more effectively, it’s a great idea to assign the management and responsibility of managing each specific data system, to the right teams of individuals. As if there isn’t a specific individual or team that is in charge of making sure each system is secure and kept up to date, certain systems would become cluttered and information held in such systems would become difficult to find.

Implement quality data thresholds:

It’s also essential to plan out quality data thresholds to ensure that all data assets meet their respective thresholds.

So if you’re interested in the topic of data governance and wish to come up with new business plans for your data, it’s well worth taking the advice which is listed above.