Data governance: what is it and why is it important
Business Dice USA

Data governance: what is it and why is it important

Abraão Almeida
Abraão Almeida

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Have you made efforts to meet LGP guidelines within your company? So, you need to better understand the concept of data governance.

Its implementation has been increasingly necessary, regardless of the type and size of the business.

Knowing how to correctly deal with the large number of data that involve the operation of a company is not only a matter of complying with the legislation and ensuring the security of information, but also of using this data in order to transform it into knowledge, which will be used strategically by the company.

In other words, you need to consider data as an important business asset, and for that you need data governance.

In the next topics, we will explain what it is, how it works, why it is important, what are its benefits and how to implement it.

What is data governance?

It is impossible to run a business without having to deal with a huge amount of data. Interaction with employees, customers and suppliers generates an absurd amount of data.

These data, in addition to needing to be treated properly due to legislation, can generate benefits for the company.

Its analysis and interpretation can be transformed into knowledge, providing the identification of failures, anticipating demands and identifying better opportunities.

For this, it is not enough to hold or organize the data. It is necessary to create a strategy to transform them into relevant information.

This strategy involves data governance. We can think of it as a set of resources and procedures implemented in order to properly manage the data that the company deals with.

The definition of data governance would be as follows: the organization of a set of rules and policies to be applied when using and sharing data.

In other words, data governance is nothing more than a set of best practices that involve not only the data itself, but also the company's employees, systems and processes.

How does data governance work?

To structure data governance in a company, it is important to think about it from some policies or objectives.

These policies and objectives will allow the definition of actions to be put into practice to fulfill demands and generate knowledge.

See below the main ones:

  • Secure data storage;
  • Definition of procedures for data collection and standardization;
  • Transformation of data into knowledge;
  • Guarantee of quality and availability of information;
  • Adequate training of employees to handle the information under their responsibility;
  • Creation of metrics for the interpretation of information.

The importance of data governance

For the company's internal organization to be efficient, it is necessary to implement effective data governance.

Without it, it is more difficult to make assertive decisions. In fact, managers end up making decisions based on “guessing” and their own intuition.

In addition, poorly structured data can lead to errors and rework, increasing operating costs and making it impossible to optimize employees' time.

On the other hand, with data governance, it is possible to identify opportunities and anticipate demands, making the entire company management more efficient.

Benefits of data governance

Changes usually generate some resistance. But to implement data governance in your company, you need to focus on the benefits it generates.

This will make it easier to deal with possible resistance by pointing out not only the path the company will follow, but also where it will go.

Below are the main benefits of data governance.

Safety

After the digital transformation, companies have become increasingly dependent on new technologies, which is very beneficial but also brings risks.

The more technological resources are developed, the more cybercriminals specialize and the more vulnerable companies become if they don't take precautions.

With effective data governance, you will have more efficient information management, with security rules that will protect your data from cyber attacks.

Cost reduction

At first, you might think that structuring data governance will generate more costs due to the need for new technologies.

However, in practice what happens is a reduction in operational costs, since data governance makes the team more efficient and reduces errors.

With this, the resources saved can be invested in other areas of the business or even in the technologies themselves.

Increased efficiency

Adequate information management, implemented after careful planning, gradually improves the results presented by employees.

By following effective procedures and having greater knowledge about the rules to be followed and the company's needs, they avoid mistakes and rework.

Therefore, we can also say that data governance provides better time management and more evident productivity.

Assertive decision making

With the team's efficiency and data security guaranteed, managers are able to better visualize the current situation and anticipate some new demands.

Thus, it is possible to anticipate problems and make the best decisions to solve them due to better data management.

How to implement data governance in your company?

The first step in implementing data governance is to identify the sectors that generate the most data, starting with human resources.

In fact, practically all sectors of your company will generate some type of data, but we highlight HR because it is your employees, distributed in different areas of the company, who will deal with different types of customer and partner data, but also because it is in the human resources sector that there is the greatest concentration of personal data.

So, if you start with this sector, the actions needed to create the conditions for structuring data governance will certainly become clearer.

From there, you can target your human resource planning according to your data usage needs.

Areas such as sales, marketing and customer service certainly deal a lot with customer data. But they are not the only ones.

It is important to identify how the company's areas use the data specifically, so that each employee receives the necessary training according to the requirements of the LGPD.

With human resource planning, it is possible to develop the means of access necessary for adequate access, editing and sharing of information.

Before that, however, you need to make a plan that includes analyzing trends in data governance and the behavior of your competitors.

Furthermore, it is necessary to analyze the situation of your company in terms of infrastructure, to find out if it is able to adhere to the new technologies that are so important in the implementation of data governance.

Thus, you identify what are the challenges to be faced and what benefits will be achieved.

This is when teams must be involved. Without this involvement the challenges will not be overcome.

Employees need to understand the need for structuring data governance.

For this, a series of meetings can be organized, in addition to employee training programs.

Of course, this entire process must be planned in accordance with the guidelines of the General Data Protection Law.

If you are not yet familiar with the terms of the LGPD, after understanding data governance, we recommend reading the article: What is LGPD: find out if your company is prepared.



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