6 Data Governance Challenges In A Data-centric World
The value of data in improving the quality of services and productivity has been understood not only by businesses but also by other organizations including governments. However, the more data-centric the world becomes the greater the data governance challenges become. The greater emphasis on data has led to an increase in information sources and the generation of even more complex data elements. In addition to this, the threat of data breaches has also grown considerably. Enterprises need to invest in data governance training to ensure that their workforce is aware of the dangers faced by information assets. Let’s take a look at the top challenges faced by organizations in today’s time.
1. Increased Threat Of Data Breaches
Data is treated as an asset by modern organizations. It is the backbone of the entire digital economy of the world. Corporations use information elements to identify ways to improve their performance and develop new solutions. Enterprises are in possession of a huge quantity of information related to their customers, vendors, and scores of other individuals. This makes them an attractive target for criminal elements looking to gain access to this personal data. The increasing cases of data breaches at some of the top corporations in the world illustrate how grave the data security challenge has become.
2. Rising Difficulty In Identifying The Best Sources
In the early days, when companies invested in digital infrastructure for storing and managing their information assets, there were just a few sources from which they could access data elements. Now with the explosion in digital technology and rising numbers of electronic transactions of all kinds and at all levels has led to the growth of numerous data sources. It has become increasingly difficult for organizations to identify the best sources. The same element may be generated from more than one place with not much difference in the quality. Data management services have to constantly refine their processes to exclude irrelevant sources.
3. Formation Of Data Silos
One of the most common reasons for an inefficient data management system is the formation of data silos. This means that specific elements are being accessed by only a certain group within the organization. This leads to the duplication of data elements or complementary assets not being accessed by relevant users. Data silos affect the productivity of enterprises and lead to wastage of resources. They are not a new problem but most corporations see them as a necessary evil and are not interested in breaking them.
4. Increase In Costs Of Managing The Initiative
A common problem faced by governance teams is an insufficient allocation of resources for their initiative. With an increased focus on information assets, enterprises are now more receptive to the idea of funding the program but they are hampered by rising costs. Corporations want to get more incisive analysis and this requires sophisticated tools and solutions which can be used to gather and process elements. This has increased the cost of running the program at an organization. In fact, the rising budgetary requirement is one of the biggest data governance challenges faced by businesses.
5. Greater Difficulty In Maintaining Data Quality
Trust is an important factor in any data management program. The organization will benefit from the program only if the users are sure about the standards of the information they are accessing. Maintaining data quality must be the prime objective of a governance team but most of the time they are worried about access controls. Instead of focusing more on who is getting the information, they must be ensuring that the data is cleansed of errors before being made available to the organization. Security concerns force enterprises to adopt this approach but it poses hurdles in the path of ensuring consistency of data. Companies must undertake evaluations like DMBOK maturity assessment which will help them accurately appraise the effectiveness of their management program.
6. Increased Legal Risks
The enforcement of privacy laws like the EU’s GDPR has increased the responsibility of organizations in protecting individual information accessed by them. All the major jurisdictions in the world have either already implemented or are in the process of enacting such regulations. This has increased the legal risks for enterprises which routinely access personal information of individuals.
Conclusion
In today’s increasingly data-centric world governance teams need to be aware of all the threats to their assets. They must constantly fine-tune their strategy to meet the data governance challenges and ensure their information elements are consistent and well-protected.
