Data management encompasses all tasks and initiatives related to treating data as an asset.
It covers data governance, architecture, modeling and design, database and storage, security, reference and master data, data integration, data warehousing, business intelligence, analytics, metadata, and data quality.
Once an organization identifies its business objectives regarding data, it can create a data management strategy (data strategy). The company will need to answer questions and plan processes around how they collect, prepare, store, analyze, and distribute data. Then they will need to find the right technology (data management tools) to achieve these processes to the best of their ability.
After selecting the tools, you can implement a data governance strategy to set enterprise data quality, security, privacy, and access/transparency standards. Then it will be the job of your data users and organization leaders to advocate for adhering to the data strategy, bring new employees up to speed, and address data issues when they arise.
Data management is essential if you want to get the most out of your data. It will protect you from all data-related risks – from data security to compliance with government regulations. It will give you and decision-makers a better understanding of the data you have available and how to use it. Above all else, it will promote a data-driven culture throughout your organization, leading to everyone taking your company’s data much more seriously.