Whether you’re in marketing, sales, IT or another business function, you’ll need to be able to access accurate, reliable data to make your decisions. This is where effective data management comes inand that’s the reason it’s one of the top technological trends to keep an eye on in 2018.
Data management involves all disciplines associated with treating your data as a valuable asset and making sure that it is accurate, reliable and accessibility. This covers everything from data structure to deploying analytics and data systems to managing the storage lifecycle of your company’s information.
A solid data management strategy encompasses six essential, or core characteristics:
Accuracy — the information should reflect actual, real-world objects or events, and must be verified using reliable sources.
Completeness — The information must contain all mandatory values such as sending an email to a client with only their last name.
Consistency – data should be uniform across all data sets and remain that way after being updated or changed.
Accessibility — the data should be easily retrievable for those who require it without compromising compliance requirements.
A data management program is only effective if all departments and business units are on board. This is particularly important since faulty data could result in a negative impact on your company. IBM estimated that poor handling of data can cost the U.S. economy $3.1 trillion per year in lost productivity and the costs associated with maintaining data.