How to Use Data Governance to Improve Data Analytics and Business Intelligence

In order to have an effective Business Intelligence strategy, a company needs to have a firm grasp of its data, especially in terms of how this data is gathered, classified, stored, managed, and processed. The best way to achieve this is to have a properly optimized Data Governance plan. 

An insightful study that involved numerous companies coming from various industries says that businesses that invest in creating a strong Data Governance and Business Intelligence report significant bumps in their ROIs.  

But creating the right Data Governance strategy requires a certain amount of planning and consistency, which can be easily achieved if you deploy a multi-faceted approach to the following: 

• Data storing 
• Data tracking 
• Data management
• Data security and compliance

Now, there are many types of data and some data pieces carry personal information (about your users/customers and belongs to them, for example), but the data that includes raw performance metrics is also extremely valuable. It can help you analyze your business performance and provide insight into what you can do to improve your overall ROI. 

That said, let’s see how companies can use an effective data governance plan to streamline data analytics and improve their Business Intelligence methods. 

Improving Operational Processes 

Data is an asset and it needs to be treated as such. A proper DG plan should make data more accessible and easily usable/reusable. It enables businesses to streamline their operational processes and helps decision-makers better understand what needs to be course-corrected so business efficiency is improved. 

Organizations that properly implement their DG plan are able to minimize or completely remove inconsistencies and human errors in terms of data management and analysis.  

Increasing Data Quality 

If you want to be sure that your business decisions will drive revenue, the data you use for analytical purposes needs to be of high quality. Otherwise, you will rely on false insights which can lead to making substantial mistakes that may cause huge resource damages. 

This is why it is important that your DG plan features a highly functional and continual process of gathering, monitoring, storing, and updating actionable insights based on high-quality data, as only then will you be able to initiate business growth. 

Without an advanced big data analytics services provider and data-driven BI strategy, business owners are not capable of making proper and timely decisions that fuel innovation. The amount of unprocessed data can be overwhelming, so be sure to have a DG plan that can help you easily sort through it all in order to track down actionable insights that can empower you to conquer your target market. 

Protect Sensitive Data & Handle Compliance 

With the number of data breaches going up, security needs to be among your main priorities.  

Since modern organizations typically manage, store, and archive 75% of their critical data and intellectual property within cloud-based services and their communication channels, making sure that these data sets are secure is a must.

In order to reduce the risk of data loss or hefty penalties due to subpar data privacy compliance, your DG plan needs to address the security aspect of data management in a granular manner and with attention to detail. Moreover, it must also invest in securing trustworthy archive storage services for all the important data.

For example, numerous businesses do not pay much attention to how they handle their email-based data. Email platforms are among the most widely used communication channels and they carry a vast amount of sensitive data, both yours and your clients’. This is why it is recommended that your DG plan also involves email archiving solutions and a strong email retention policy as these can help you automate these tasks, optimize storage costs and handle regulatory compliance.

Effective DG Plan Speeds Up Business Analytics

Timing can make or break any business. 

It doesn’t really matter if you have a top-tier product and/or service, you need timely data analysis in order to come up with an effective business strategy that will help you dominate your market. 

In order for your business to reach its full potential, you need a DG tactic that will enable you to streamline your entire business workflow and improve operational processes so you can perform deep data analysis and gain insight into how you can increase revenue – and most importantly – do it quickly. Whether you round up your team to get the job done or hire someone to do it for you is entirely up to your judgment, so as long as you develop and execute the plan efficiently to start ramping up results for managing your data effectively.

Fast access to smart insights is only available if you can reach raw data in a timely manner. If this is not the case, and you don’t get actionable insight as quickly as possible, it is highly likely that all other processes will be slowed down, resulting in cascading issues across your entire company. 

To Wrap up  

There’s a tight relationship between Data Governance and Business Intelligence. In order to devise a highly effective BI strategy that will help you improve your ROI, you need to have fast access to quality data, which is extremely hard unless you have an optimized DG plan in place. 

Be sure that your data is accessible, accurate, properly stored and properly organized, for only then will you be able to reap deep insights into how you can boost your revenue and stay in front of your direct competition. 

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Damian is a business consultant and a freelance blogger from New York. He writes about the latest tech solutions and marketing insights. Follow him on Twitter for more articles