Data as a Capital Asset
Every business involves data management. Each interaction with a customer, employee or supplier creates a link that entails the recording of information about the exchange itself and the parties involved. That has always been true since the earliest days of trade. Today we call it data management and it has gone beyond the ordinary definitions of record keeping because, in today’s digital economy, data is capital. Management of data encompasses not only the safe collection and storage of data but also its secure, legal, advantageous use. Data has become immensely valuable to businesses because, if used well, it enhances decision-making, solves problems, improves processes and helps them to understand their own performance and their customers’ concerns.
It’s appropriate to describe it as capital because it has become an economic factor in the production of both digital and physical goods and services. Handling this volume of valuable information is no simple task and is virtually impossible without the use of data management software which can collate, store and update, provide easy but legally compliant access and facilitate its use in a variety of apps, analytics and algorithms. A formal data management strategy is essential to enable and regulate the activities of users and administrators within a compliance regime that allows the business to extract the maximum advantage from this priceless asset.
How Data Management Works
Fortunately, the business services industry has matured to meet the challenges of this modern phenomenon. Data management services companies have taken their place alongside auditing, PR and recruitment consultancies to provide expert solutions in this constantly evolving field. Structured as an over-arching data utility, these solutions operate on data management platforms that include databases (formally structured data), data lakes (raw, diverse data) and data warehouses (refined, processed data). Many of the functions of these utilities are automated with data management software but there will be circumstances in which manual intervention will be necessary because of the size and complexity of database deployments.
One of the great ambitions of data management is to reduce the need for manual action and possibly even one day eliminate it altogether through the development of the autonomous database, which will be cloud-based and use machine learning to automate tuning, security, backups, updates and any other routine management tasks performed by database administrators. All of this must be done in strict compliance with regulatory obligations. Data is a major economic asset and its management is a very serious business. Talk to our consultants today about how we can help you devise, implement and maintain a perfect strategy for your business.
