The Digital Transformation of Information in the Application Economy: Part Three of Five
We all know that sound business decisions require a single version of the truth. And anyone who has worked on large-scale enterprise data warehouse projects knows that capturing data presents numerous challenges.
Data from business units don’t necessarily provide sufficient context because the data aren’t centrally managed. Another challenge: Shadow IT departments in separate business units often lack governance and serve only unit needs.
Of course, the ultimate goals are a targeted, enterprise-wide growth strategy that works for all units, ensuring efficiency across all units and aligning to corporate data standards, quality and sources.
Compliance with Data Regulations is Key
Another challenge is regulatory compliance, a critical requirement for most companies. Because non-compliance may mean financial penalties, all units, including IT, need to adopt compliance policies.
Data privacy challenges are especially daunting, and the data privacy discipline is experiencing a digital transformation. Smartphone apps capture personal identifiable data that app creators must protect; encryption safeguards can be established, but collection and storage are in digital format by default.
Data’s Business Value Can Change the Game
Organized data drives the strategic analysis and decision-making that fuel growth. Business leaders must understand their entire service portfolio and draw the line on what’s in and what’s out.
Decisions should emphasize market conditions, the demand for services, and the cost of business assets. The challenge, of course, is in the details—the data we need to collect, store and analyze.
In the first blog in this series, Rob Zuurdeeg and I wrote that success in the app economy depends on managing the information that powers our apps. Our second blog concentrated on information lifecycle design. Next, we’ll discuss data organization and knowledge management best practices.
Until then, we’d love to hear from you if you’ve encountered challenges other than those discussed here.