Every digital touchpoint serves as a goldmine of invaluable data for enterprises, as data stands as the cornerstone for any modern company. However, to truly benefit from this wealth of data, organisations must ensure it is clean, accessible, meticulously managed, and secure – which necessitates robust data governance.
Data governance ensures efficient data management, encompassing best practices for collecting, storing, and analysing it. Effective data governance empowers businesses to access relevant information at the right time, facilitating a better understanding of their core markets and subsequently enabling informed decision-making. While clear data comprehension and proper usage are vital for gaining a strategic advantage, data governance frameworks prevent data misuse that could tarnish an organisation’s reputation, ensure compliance with laws such as the EU Data Governance Act (DGA) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and mitigate legal risks. For example, third-party cookies found on European news sites have decreased by 22% since the implementation of GDPR, enhancing data streaming security. Moreover, businesses must also recognize that master data management (MDM) relies heavily on data governance principles to establish a reliable perspective on company data.
Suggested read: Data Governance and Regulatory Compliance: A Perspective
In this blog, we will delve into the significance of data governance for B2B organisations, dissect the influence of Generative AI (GenAI) on data governance, and explore actionable strategies that businesses can adopt to instil resilient data governance practices.
Why Data Governance is Paramount for B2B Organisations
Strong data governance is imperative for managing the vast volumes of data generated across various business operations. A cohesive data ecosystem is essential for B2B organisations, facilitating the analysis of customer behaviours through seamless integration and management of diverse data types, including structured and unstructured data. This involves ensuring data quality, managing information, and controlling data access. Moreover, data governance also enables businesses to establish strategic partnerships based on reliable data insights, enhance credibility, and position themselves as trusted industry allies.
| 360° view of data | Improved decision making | Enhanced insights and analytics | Improved operational efficiency | Better customer relationships |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Test automation framework for Salesforce Lightning Apps | Power of incremental package building and revision tracking of target org/ sandbox automated deployments | Find missing deployment difference | Load seed data into Salesforce Sandbox by copying from source Sandbox with a simple setup and one click | Generates the blueprint of your custom development on the Salesforce platform |
Figure 1: Benefits of a Cohesive Data Ecosystem (Source: Persistent)
Suggested read: Data Residency in Modern Business – Reducing Risk and Ensuring Compliance
Data Governance in the Age of Generative AI
Generative AI’s (GenAI) widespread adoption has many implications for the way data-driven businesses work, as GenAI relies on integration with large language models (LLMs) with data from various sources and systems. However, enterprises must first determine with which sources to integrate, and the quality of the structured and unstructured data utilized in LLMs. Increased GenAI usage will require additional layers of data governance, and as GenAI gains traction across industries, the need for robust governance becomes increasingly critical.
Effective data governance is also crucial for managing the ever-increasing volume of data generated by GenAI systems. It ensures efficient discovery, cataloguing, and quality management of data. Data governance practices, such as quality management and lineage tracking, ensure clean, consistent, and up-to-date data for accurate outputs. Additionally, data governance frameworks also help establish policies and controls to safeguard data privacy and security, ensuring transparency, accountability, and compliance.
How Businesses Can Achieve Robust Data Governance
Amidst the data volume surge, the logistics of managing vast amounts of data from various sources give rise to a plethora of challenges, including data silos, insufficient data literacy and leadership, misinterpretation of data goals, and concerns regarding data quality, among others. Partnering with domain and technology experts is key to addressing such challenges. This enables businesses to access global expertise while they continue to focus on their core business operations.
Persistent is a seasoned data expert. Our comprehensive suite of data governance and data protection tools, coupled with extensive partner ecosystems and teams of expert practitioners, plays a pivotal role in driving accelerated progress in data governance programs. Persistent offers a wide range of solutions and services, including data governance toolscrafted to streamline data management processes, elevates data quality, and ensure compliance with regulatory mandates.
Our data protection and security solutions encompass a wide array of technologies and strategies aimed at safeguarding sensitive data from unauthorised access, breaches, and other security threats. Furthermore, Persistent also conducts thorough assessments to evaluate thematurity of an organisation’s data governance practices, and additionally offers robust data cataloguing solutions data quality assessments to efficiently organise, classify, and manage data assets. These data catalogues serve as centralised repositories for metadata, facilitating easier discovery, understanding, and utilisation of data across the organisation.
Striking the Balance Between Accessibility and Security with Data Governance
Unlocking the true power of data demands more than just its availability; it necessitates accessibility, manageability, and trustworthiness. This journey involves not just ensuring regulatory compliance and safeguarding against misuse but also fostering a culture of collaboration and communication among IT, security teams, data owners, and business stakeholders. By aligning objectives, mitigating concerns, and cultivating a culture of working in collaboration, businesses can dismantle silos and streamline data management processes. In doing so, they strike a delicate equilibrium between accessibility and security, ensuring that data governance initiatives resonate with impact and effectiveness.
Connect with us to learn how to harness the full value of your data while maintaining compliance and security standards.
