In recent times, digital databases have grown tremendously in size across the globe due to both the transferring of physical information as well the generation of new data via digital activities. One issue this increase poses, especially to small businesses, is known as data overload. According to an online survey recorded over a span of 10 years, our collective digital activities have now generated almost 60 zettabytes of data, and are set to reach 149 zettabytes over the next four years. With such vast amounts of information, businesses often grow overwhelmed and as a result, this can disrupt the efficiency of daily operations. One common and practical procedure that aims to resolve this issue is known as information governance. In this blog, we will discuss the meaning, importance, and challenges involved with information governance.
Information Governance vs. Data Governance
First of all, it is important to make the distinction between the two commonly mistaken concepts. Information governance is a holistic approach to managing corporate information by implementing processes, roles, controls and metrics that treat information as a valuable business asset. The goal of information governance is to make information assets available to those who need it, and to maximise the value of information while minimising the costs and risks of holding it. As a result, it enables the company to reduce the legal risks associated with unmanaged or inconsistently managed information, and to be more agile in response to a changing marketplace.
Data governance, conversely, is simply a key subset of this model. It aims to control information at the data level, ensuring the maintenance of accurate and high-quality data through the implementation of appropriate systems and processes. The two processes are executed in different parts of the company, by different people, with different tools, with different practical goals.
Importance and challenges of Information Governance
So, why exactly is information governance important to the business? Information governance, as mentioned above, makes information more accessible to those who need it, which is crucial for any organisation. Businesses of all types and sizes often suffer from poor organisation and management of information assets, leading to issues with accessibility, ease of use, timeliness, and security. Information governance is but one of the several ways to effectively resolve such issues.
Often, the same information may exist in more than one location, leading to issues with updating. When the same information is in several places and does not agree, confusion can ensue. Effective information governance can establish a single source of truth (SSOT), rendering information more trustworthy and allowing for more coherent business decisions to be made.
As a matter of fact, information governance is so important that it has become a C-suite role in many organisations, with an executive responsible for its implementation. The chief information governance officer often oversees the initial governance initiative, conducting its development, management, and ongoing evolution throughout the organisation. The officer is generally responsible for maintenance of information integrity standards, gathering required quality and usage metrics, and ensuring that the company meets compliance and regulatory requirements.
However, despite its effectiveness and practicality, information governance is no easy task to implement within your organisation. Some of the possible issues that may arise are outlined below:
Lifecycle management: One major challenge of implementing information governance is the need to manage data that underlies information assets throughout its lifecycle in multiple domains. As silos come down and information becomes more centralised in the enterprise, inconsistencies in its management can creep into existing processes, causing friction between groups. All groups using common information must agree about the process of refreshing, modifying and archiving that information. Achieving policies that encourage such agreement should be a responsibility of the governance officer and council.
Compliance and regulatory issues: An organisation often requires information governance during a lawsuit or some other consequence of noncompliance. On such occasions, compliance teams must go through potentially millions of pages of documents and datasets in pursuit of information that has been requested for legal purposes. Even if your organisation’s data is properly organised and managed, searching for particular pieces of information can still be a tedious task.
Machine Learning and Big Data: Machine learning is greatly essential to online enterprises — specifically in enabling the predictive and prescriptive analytics that are necessary to maintaining a competitive edge. As you may know, however, machine learning depends on big data — large volumes of data that influence business operations, — and it is often challenging to manage data of that magnitude, especially when it is unorganised and ungoverned.
To conclude, information governance is an increasingly important process that you should surely implement into your organisation in order to make sure that:
- Data is easily accessible to those who require it;
- Data is properly managed and secured;
- Regulatory requirements are correctly observed;
- Proper risk management is in place to minimize any issues that might arise from incorrect use.
As your organisation’s online database increases in size, information governance is one of the most effective and pragmatic methods to ensure that regular business operations are running steadily, and that decisions can be made with precision, confidence, and consideration.
About the author: Mark Roychowdhury is a Copywriter Intern at ei² niche consulting for #data #insights #performance www.eisquare.co.uk
Editor: Aleksandra Pavlovic