Posts about Data Governance

Is GDPR—the General Data Protection Regulation enforced by the EU on the 25th of May 2018—yet another obstacle and nuisance to the much-burdened CIOs, or is it a positive game-changer that can help drive new business and make organizations more efficient?

This is a recap of Stibo Systems’ webinar “How to meet and sustain the GDPR requirements using data governance” where The Data Governance Coach, Nicola Askham, shares insights into the relationship between data governance and data protection, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). You can listen to the full 30-minute webinar on-demand anytime you want.

Just a few years ago, the discipline of data protection was mainly about securing who had access to your data and ensuring the data did not fall into the wrong hands. Data governance, on the other hand, was mainly about managing your data and improving your data quality. Despite what many people think, data governance and data protection have never been the same thing, and the line between the two disciplines used to be very clear. But now, Data Governance Coach Nicola Askham does not see this line existing anymore. Instead, we have a relationship between data governance and data protection where they work together and complement each other. What happened?

Data is a powerful business enabler. You can use it to improve customer engagement, reduce time to market and increase sales—that is, if you get it into the hands of the right people, when and where they need it.

Unfortunately, we all know that data can easily fall into the hands of the wrong people. With a data-driven business environment comes an increased risk of data breaches, cyber attacks, phishing and more. If your data is fragmented and being distributed across many different systems and applications, the risk only increases.

Effective data management can help keep your data out of reach from anyone not authorized to view, edit or compromise it in any way, making it easier for you to manage data security and data control.

Here is how Master Data Management supports your data security efforts.

As your company’s connected and online business activities increase, so does the data generated by these interactions. But, how are you using this data? Are you harnessing the insights it imparts to increase sales or launch new products? If not, why not? This post gives you 5 steps on how to improve your data management efforts.

When it comes to governance, your first thought is probably government. But the term can also mean management or control through overarching rules – so laws, guidelines, and the creation of specific structures. The goal of structured data management is to ensure the availability, usability, integrity, security and confidentiality of information. No one disputes its value, and it has also been featured in previous blog posts and webinars.

So, data governance is nothing new – but many companies are only just getting around to it. But here's why they shouldn't wait any longer:

The objective of data governance is to provide insights into the availability, usability, integrity, security and privacy of data. As the amount of data organizations handle grows, establishing efficient data privacy policies and processes is critical. Furthermore, data privacy must be embedded in new systems and crafted onto existing legacy systems and networks. But privacy is far from just about software and hardware. It’s very much about people.

Data Governance. It’s kind of like going to the gym. You know it’s really good for you, but you just don’t do it (Sorry Nike!). The same applies for many organizations today when it comes to data governance. They know that it can add real value to their business, but despite that, it is and always has been difficult to sell internally. Concepts such as technical and business-related metadata, data quality, information models and data ownership often lack funding for implementation.

This is the fourth post in our 'Internet of Things' blog series. If you missed the first posts, you can find them here: 1, 2, 3. 

“With great power comes great responsibility” 

This famous quote isn’t just applicable to Spiderman, it’s also very applicable to technology. Today, with the Internet of Things (IoT), businesses have the power to develop intelligent, useful products and services. Yet many are so trapped in the web of simply making products, that they are neglecting the protection and privacy side of IoT technologies. By doing so, IoT companies are only one IT security nightmare away from destroying their brand and credibility. 

In 2007, ConAgra Foods Inc., the makers of Peter Pan peanut butter, found itself in the middle of a nightmarish recall. A salmonella outbreak had infected 700 people nationwide in 39 different states, sending 20% of those to hospitals for advanced treatment. At the root of the issue was tainted peanut butter produced at a plant in Georgia. The facility had several food safety issues: an old peanut roaster was not uniformly heating, a previously damaged sugar silo had openings that allowed entry to birds and insects, and a leaky roof was adding unwanted moisture to the production process. ConAgra ended up forking out close to $300 million in fines and restitution. 

“That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet…”

We take it for granted. When we call a friend in France, we automatically add the internationally recognised dialling code of 33. An entire orchestra is tuned to an A at 440 Hertz frequency. Even nature has its golden ratio for reference when designing the arrangement of petals in a flower.

There are many bits of reference information that are internationally recognised and in common usage – grocery bar codes, medical conditions, industry classifications and postcodes to name but a few. Some reference data can also be specific to just one sector, where it can support a unique business process or describe the configuration of an individual application.