Collecting data is important for any company.
But if that data is poorly organized, there’s a real risk that it won’t develop its full potential.
Worse still, if the legal rules governing data management are not respected, you could find yourself in serious trouble.
Infologo brings you all the answers on data governance in this dossier.
What exactly is the definition of governance?
The definition of governance is the same whether it concerns the governance of computer data, a company or a country:
“Action of governing. Manner of managing, administering. Larousse
The explosion of Big Data has forced companies to realize just how important it is to make the most of the internal and/or external data they hold.
To manage the diversity of this data, companies had to set up a rigorous management system.
Indeed, every day their information assets grow and data multiplies, to such an extent that some companies create dedicated data management departments.
Added to these management difficulties are the ever-increasing regulatory constraints.
Most recently, it’s the General Data Protection Regulation that has been giving companies around the world a hard time.
While many were unaware of the data they held, today companies, whatever their size, must be able to enforce the rules of the GDPR and by necessity know their IT data well.
The exact definition of Data Governance
The main aim of data governance is to make the best possible use of the data held by the company via an organizational system.
In simple terms, data governance is based on five key points:
- rules: adapting to constantly changing rules
- organization: choosing the roles of the various players
- Finance: cost, value and asset management
- control: regular monitoring to ensure that rules are properly applied
- risks: managing, monitoring and resolving the risks of data theft or loss.
Data governance is a strategy that needs to be put in place by companies that own data and want to use it to grow their business.
Indeed, by using the data it possesses, a company can grow its business by developing its customer base.
Intelligent use of data is a new way of thinking that takes into account practical, technical, ethical and legal aspects, with the aim of transforming information into value.
The advent of Big Data has precipitated the increased use of the various data holdings.
In the past, companies were content to hold their customers’ data.
Today, to grow, they need to use this information to increase customer loyalty (personalized offers, evolution of services offered…). In the next article in our series on data governance, we’ll explain the rules you need to know in order to manage and administer the information you collect.
