Effective Enterprise Data Management Explained

Data is the currency that drives businesses worldwide! But, in the absence of a holistic data management strategy, companies are unable to unlock the full potential from their data ecosystems. While forward-thinking business leaders are looking to gain a competitive edge from their data, reports suggest that most of them don’t have accurate customer & prospect data. Enterprises today struggle to implement and manage their data that moves through their key processes and systems.

Therefore, formulating an enterprise data management strategy should be your top priority. If you want to transform your business digitally and monetize your data, then this article will help you lay a strong foundation for achieving these goals!

Table of Contents:

• What is enterprise data management?
• Why is enterprise data management important for your business?
• Benefits of enterprise data management
• Key elements of enterprise data management
• Enterprise data management best practices
• Enterprise data management challenges
• How to define your enterprise data management strategy
• How Rishabh Can Help You Build a System for Long-term Success

Enterprise data management can be defined as the ability of an enterprise to accurately determine, seamlessly integrate, and efficiently access data for internal business applications and external communications. In simple words, EDM means a set of processes and practices that are focused on data quality, availability, security, accuracy, and good governance.

The main purpose of this system is to eliminate all existing and potential issues that arise due to mishandling and bungling of data. It also ensures that different departments like IT, Finance, HR, Marketing & Production have easy access to accurate data in real-time. Effective data management is one of the key strategies that determine the sustainability of any business.

EDM is crucial because it creates a standardized system for businesses to manage monitor, store, secure, access, and share their data. This streamlined approach ensures that companies can quickly find, analyze and use their data to make the right decisions at the right time and function from a data-driven standpoint.

Here are 6 more reasons why your business needs enterprise data management solutions:

1. Up-to-the-minute Data
Data is only valuable when it is accurate, relevant, and reliable. If it is not consistently monitored, then its authenticity suffers considerably, and it stops being resourceful to your business. EDM provides exactly this benefit.

2. Competitive Value
Centralized data is a valuable resource and is worth investing in. EDM helps you gain vital governance and drive consistency by ensuring that end-users have access to a single, authorized source hosting quality data.

3. Compliant Data
With the increase in volume and variety of data, companies find it harder to mitigate compliance risks. Proper data management enables you to uncover siloed or hidden data assets and evaluate their value & risk level.

4. Reduced Expenses
A considerable chunk of your revenue is spent on the dedicated staff that is hired to cope with low-quality data. They could be focusing on value-add business processes instead! An experienced business data processing service provider can help you reduce these costs.

5. Improved Customer Experience
Even something as small as a mailing error can encourage a disgruntled customer to damage your online reputation with a negative review. When you streamline your data management processes, you can better serve your customers and instill long-term loyalty.

6. Streamlined Operations
Leveraging the potential of data analytics, managers can easily identify areas that are ripe for improvement and optimize processes. With instant access to actionable data, operational decisions can be more accurate and informed, especially when it comes to security and compliance obligations.

By managing your data, you ensure that it is less vulnerable to security breaches, inaccurate analysis, compliance risks, and legal complications that arise from storing insecure personally identifiable data in the cloud or on your premises.

A well-defined EDM strategy has wide-reaching benefits for an enterprise. It enables you to define and enforce rules & regulations that unify your data across workflows. This standardization brings your business the following advantages:

• Reduces cost through improved operational efficiencies
• Helps create a data-driven culture
• Accelerates the pace of launching new products
• Opens up revenue sources with new capabilities & services
• Creates new space for innovation and disruption
• Enhances responsiveness to market changes & consumer needs
• Eliminates the risk of losing mission-critical business data
• Saves time & resources while avoiding duplication of information
• Sets a solid foundation for monetizing data

The mounting pressure to implement enterprise data management solutions is not a passing fad. There are tangible operational needs to be addressed. And one among these is the need of the hour – to make data easily accessible and convenient to use. Enterprises must evolve their capabilities of putting their data to work for boosting efficiencies, driving informed decisions, and fueling the company’s growth.

So, why delay in embracing the change that can be beneficial and transformative for your business? Now is the time to adapt and take advantage of relevant, reliable, and timely data.

Like any other organized system, a company’s EDM system comprises a multitude of smaller subsystems where each has a specific role to play. However, the six core components of the successful system are as follows:

1. Data Governance
This is the foundation layer of data management and it includes the creation of fundamental records that define all the important policies, procedures & roles for combining data from different sources. It streamlines information flow, protects the privacy of users, and ensures compliance with applicable rules.

2. Data Integration
The data stored in a centralized repository is then useful to all the stakeholders across the board. It ensures that the right people are delegated the right responsibilities by defining a structure for internal & external accountabilities.

3. Master Data Management (MDM)
It is the set of technology tools and process that manages, stores, organize & sync the master data of the business. This offers a consistent view of all the disparate data lying in silos – be it sales, marketing, CRM or more.

4. Data Architecture
It creates guidelines that help enterprises streamline data extraction, integration, transformation, and data modeling. The goal of setting up a functional architecture is essentially organizing and securing the operational infrastructure. This is where all the data is stored and manipulated without compromising on security.

5. Data Warehouse & Business Intelligence
A data warehouse is a platform that stores a huge amount of structured data. The data could be from multiple sources on which data mining could be performed. It restructures the information into a suitable format for further analysts to derive actionable insights. Business intelligence implementation enables the end-user with insights to make smarter, data-driven decisions for better business outcomes.

6. Metadata Management
It entails the framing of standard procedures that govern the management of data definitions & related information.

With these six elements accounted for, enterprises can chalk out a future-ready EDM strategy. And, below are the best practices to follow.

• For an effective data management strategy, data managers need to have a clear understanding of the different data types and how they flow
• They then need business leaders like chief data officer (CDO) or chief technical officer (CTO), to buy in
• Enterprises need to define their deliverables and educate the teams on what they want to achieve with the implementation
• It is equally important to implement all the standards, policies, and procedures that ensure compliance and help avoid data thefts and security breaches
• An EDM strategy is better positioned for success when companies catalog their data and improve data access to appropriate departments
• Finally, adopting a culture of data quality and investing in advanced data cataloging technologies are crucial for a scalable, future-ready business

Organizations that are in a better position to mobilize their data assets and power mission-critical business initiatives will gain a distinct edge in the years to come. Those that fail to revamp policies and put systems in place will struggle in the veritable sea of old and new data.

When data is stored in an unorganized manner or not labelled correctly, it can invite the following problems:

• Inefficiencies and inaccuracies in operations
• Conflicting data and declining trust in assets
• Errors and inconsistencies in reporting
• Wastage of time and effort on reconciling the differences in data, storage, and processes
• Diminishing trust between partners
• Internal frustrations between employees
• Disgruntled customers

Companies may feel that data management is a daunting process. This can create challenges in defining, organizing, and storing assets. However, enterprise data management solution development can be accomplished with the support of the right technology partner that is backed by a proven experience, right strategies, and a competent team.

There is no one-size-fits-all EDM strategy that is proven to work efficiently for every enterprise. Businesses need to design a tailored roadmap based on their unique needs. However, there are some tried-and-tested practices that you can follow and key questions that should be answered when crafting an EDM strategy:

1. Evaluate the existing system

• Collect and analyze the information related to the company’s size, nature, goals, processes, and scope.
• Which subsystems does the system comprise and how are they interrelated?
• What are the pitfalls that decelerate the flow of data between processes?
• What are the inputs & outcomes of each subsystem?

2. Gain a clear understanding of your organizational goals

• What products do you want to create as final outcomes of your EDM?
• How do you intend to use these products?

3. Implement data governance with established standards and procedures

• Identify activities that should be implemented to construct a conceptual structure that guides the development of high-quality data products
• Define the rules and regulations for every subsystem and processes within
• Determine how each identified activity is to be executed

4. Define the teams and delegate their responsibilities

• Allocate roles and activities to specific teams
• Define horizontal and vertical hierarchy across functions
• Specify individual responsibilities within departments

5. Implement an agile data architecture

• Decide on the hardware & software technologies you intend you use
• Determine the format of data that is to be collected and distributed
• Create data pipelines to automate all the processes
• Specify how data will change during the transformation

6. Keep all the employees and partners up-to-date about system changes

• Educate all the teams about the structural, technological, and system updates
• Notify all external stakeholders about the new policies, procedures, and standards and how they will affect them

The right implementation of an enterprise data management solution enables businesses to make profitable, evidence-based decisions. It also makes it seamless to integrate actionable insights from the business data into your products.

Beyond technological considerations, it helps streamline the flow of data and work culture, thereby improving the internal communication and decision-making processes with partners. It saves you considerable time & money by eliminating the stress, hassles, and costs of coping with low-quality data.

If you don’t already have a robust and reliable EDM system in place, we can assist you to implement one. Every enterprise is data-driven! And so, there’s no better time than now to make the most of this system and future-proof your business.