What is Data Management and Why is it Important?

As a small business owner, keeping up with your data management processes can feel like a mammoth task, as your business grows and your data volume increases, it’s essential to have strong data management systems in place.

Problems keeping data up to date cost businesses over $600 billion per year, this is just one of the many reasons why proper data management solutions are so important.

Today’s successful businesses and organisations must understand the what, why, and how of data management.

Fortunately, there are many data management tools accessible, including everything from data management software to industry best practices. Let’s start by understanding what data management is and then we’ll discuss why it’s important.

What is data management?

Data management is the process of classifying, archiving, and safeguarding data at every stage of its lifecycle. 

It entails putting policies and procedures into place to guarantee data security, accuracy, and accessibility. Businesses may use their data to make educated decisions and uncover important insights with the aid of effective data management.

Leading data management tools and software now guarantee that decisions are always based on accurate, current data. The software assists with data preparation, cataloguing, search, governance, and other tasks so that individuals may easily locate the data they require for analysis.

4 types of data management

Experts in data management typically concentrate on subfields. The following categories may include one or more of these specialties:

1. Data security

In all types of jobs, security is the most crucial factor. The same is true for data management. Every level of data management has strict policies on data security, and they are responsible for safeguarding against unintentional movement or deletion, managing encryption, and other security-related tasks.

The cost of a data breach to business has increased by 10% in recent years.

2. Master data management

The process of ensuring that an organisation always works with a single version of up-to-date, trustworthy data and bases business decisions on it is known as master data management (MDM). The appropriate tools are necessary for both replicating data into various systems and ingesting data from all of your data sources and presenting it as a single consistent, dependable source.

3. Data governance

The laws governing data management are established by data governance. They set the rules for data collection, flow, and security. They are in charge of all other data management tasks performed by quality management specialists, data stewards, security teams, and other personnel.

4. Big data management

Big data management is the gathering and evaluation of all digital data in order to enhance organisational operations. They gather and examine the raw data so that other data management processes can use the processed data to enhance business operations.

Looking for expert data management platforms for your small business?

Almost every industry’s enterprises are affected by data. Managing all that data becomes ever more important as it becomes increasingly required for real-time decision making, which keeps businesses competitive and customers interested.

In order to improve the overall health of your data and make sure you are getting the most value out of it, proper data management is an essential first step.

In addition to helping you implement a safe and reliable data management and security solution, Binary Blue can assist you in identifying potential risks to your company.

By utilising our data management services, you can have confidence that the vital information for your company is not only stored effectively but also well protected. For one off bespoke analysis you could also consider using a freelance data analyst.

What is cloud data management?

With or without on-premises storage, cloud data management is a technique to manage data across cloud platforms. For backup, long-term archiving, and disaster recovery, the cloud is an excellent data storage tier.

The ability to buy resources on demand is a benefit of cloud data management. Additionally, data can be shared within on-premises storage and across public and private clouds.

A data management system that operates in the cloud performs the same tasks as a traditional data management system that has been adjusted for cloud requirements.

Why is data management important for small businesses?

Benefits of a successful data management strategy can be observed in a variety of fields, including marketing, IT infrastructure, business intelligence, and analytics.

Better decision-making, better customer relationship management, more productivity, and improved data analytics are a few advantages of excellent data management. Let’s have a more in-depth look here:

Decision making

Data management is significant because it can enhance decision-making in a variety of ways. First, it can offer precise and current information regarding the state of a system or data management process at the moment. With the aid of this data, trends and patterns that might not be immediately obvious can be found.

The identification and monitoring of key performance indicators might also be helpful. These indicators can be used to gauge development and pinpoint areas that want improvement in your business processes.

Minimising data loss

This is regarded as one of the top advantages of data storage management for businesses.

An efficient data management strategy is to make sure that all data sources are accessible when needed and that regular backups are made so that they can be restored in case of an emergency.

By enabling users to accurately track their data and where it is, data management technologies help decrease data loss. This guarantees that crucial information won’t be misplaced.

Data compliance

By ensuring that data is accurate, whole, and timely, data management helps enhance compliance with regulatory requirements, sometimes referred to as GDPR.

The UK has implemented the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) through the Data Protection Act of 2018. The “data protection principles” are a set of severe guidelines that everyone using personal data must abide by. 

The information must be utilised honestly, legally, and openly.

Improves data security

In addition to enabling access control, data security can be increased by making sure that data is adequately backed up. Detecting and monitoring data breaches can also aid in their prompt remediation.

Data backup or recovery is a crucial procedure that ought to be used to guarantee data protection. It also assists in lowering the risk of data loss for an organisation as a result of unplanned occurrences like hardware failure or natural disasters.

Contact us today for more information on our small business IT support services.

What is Data Management FAQs

What is the meaning of data management?

The process of gathering, organising, and gaining access to data in order to support productivity, efficiency, and decision-making.

What are data management challenges?

Problems with data management can impact a wide range of issues. Examples of poor data management include data breaches, data loss, unlawful access, data silos, noncompliance with the law, an unregulated environment, and a lack of resources.

Why is data management important?

Data is increasingly viewed as a corporate asset that can be leveraged to improve marketing initiatives, business operations, and cost-saving measures, all with the aim of boosting revenue and profits.