Data governance is all about veracity. Businesses and customers alike depend on the truth of the data business gather and use for daily operations. Until very recently, all data went through the same governance standards. Before big data altered standards of speed and volume, this approach worked perfectly well. Big data changed that and many businesses all but abandoned data governance in favor of speed. This created painful, costly consequences for a number of major companies, driving home the necessity of big data governance.
Just as you can’t trust everything you read on the internet, businesses can’t trust all the information pulled in through big data analytics. Information needs to be verified, but traditional approaches bog down the system to the point of ineptitude. The way we gather data has changed and our governance practices must change to meet new standards and demands. Unlike traditional methods, big data governance doesn’t subject all data to the same standards. First, big data governance determines the use or risk of the data. Determining which ad to present an online customer is vastly different than determining credit information. Big data governance prioritizes data and applies appropriate standards. This allows speed without losing precision when it matters most. It’s easy to see how big data governance benefits all parts of your business.
The first benefit is savings. While implementing big data, governance may not be the cheapest endeavor, it’s far less costly than replacing all charge cards and making reparations after a cyber-attack, as one major retailer recently discovered. Savings go beyond preventing cyber-attacks and other losses, though. Big data governance is about organization and control. It saves time, money, and labor hours. It also helps prevent wasted funds by improving the veracity of big data. Applications can work more efficiently and ad campaigns can perform more effectively.
Big data governance benefits security. As an information steward, you’re expected to not just collect data, but also protect the data you collect. Big data software makes this difficult through sheer scale, but proper governance protects your business and customers’ information. The more data you gather, the more likely you are to introduce a threat to your business systems. Since the information provided through big data works to fulfill different functions, it’s important to incorporate different levels of screening. This is the role of big data governance, and it prevents tragedies like the charge card incident we mentioned earlier.
Big data tools revolutionized business information gathering. Big data governance allows you to verify that data without negating the speed big data needs in order to be effective. Drawing increased data opens all kinds of doors for major corporations and entrepreneurs alike, but without a governing system, there’s no way to use that data safely. Don’t pay the price of ungoverned big data. Big data governance benefits improve your business from finances to security. If you’re working with the data of the future, you need to work with the data governance systems of the future, too.