Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2023. Read them in this 15th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
Three Ways Businesses Can Build Better Trust in Their Data During 2023
By Emily Washington, SVP - Product
Management at Precisely
Global data creation is projected to
reach more than 180 zettabytes by 2025, so it's not surprising
to see a recent study from 451 Research discover that nearly 79%
of businesses report data will be important to their organization's strategic
decision-making over the next 12 months. As we approach 2023, more businesses are
undoubtedly seeking to unlock additional value from their ever-growing datasets
and drive more confident decisions.
But to make decisions they can truly be
confident in, enterprises must be able to trust the data that is driving their
decision-making processes. To be successful, businesses need to adopt a data
integrity strategy in 2023 - fueling decisions with data that is accurate,
consistent, and contextual. With this in mind, below are the top three trends
for data-driven decision-making we expect to see over the next year.
Increasingly sophisticated data initiatives driving even more
data quality challenges
An
ongoing effect of the pandemic is a greater demand for self-service models which
allow more users to leverage data-driven insights across the organization, but
make it harder to identify data quality issues as they occur. That, coupled
with a push towards cloud transformation and modernizing data environments to
support advanced analytics, means there's an increased emphasis for data
quality as use cases for it evolve.
In
2023, as data initiatives become more sophisticated, organizations will uncover
new data quality challenges, such as growing requirements for more easily
accessible data. Organizations will need to adapt to the demand for these
evolving use cases by adjusting their data quality practices accordingly.
Data
observability enabling more proactive data management
Knowing that data quality challenges will
become more complex, businesses will need to take a more proactive and agile
approach to ensuring the health of their data. To address this, many businesses
are already incorporating data observability into their data management
strategy, allowing them to spot issues that impact the integrity of their data,
and proactively take action - before it can lead to ill-informed decision-making.
For optimum results, businesses should consider
data observability solutions that use advanced technology to apply machine
learning intelligence. These tools watch for patterns in the data and alert
data stewards when anomalies crop up, resulting in better quality data
pipelines, more efficient decision-making, and ultimately, and an improved
bottom line for the business.
The role of data governance continuing
to evolve
While data governance has previously been seen
as necessary to drive regulatory compliance or policy management, its role has
evolved in recent years - with many organizations recognizing its much wider
impact across the business. Research has shown that two-thirds (66%) of organizations
report improved data quality as a leading benefit of data governance programs, with
higher quality data analytics and insights (56%), facilitated collaboration (52%),
and faster access to relevant data (50%), all closely following behind.
An enterprise-wide approach encourages a
data-driven culture that is built upon collaboration and a better understanding
of data. As a result, in 2023, we'll continue to see organizations increase
their investment in business-first data governance programs as a pathway to more
confident decision-making, increased revenue, and growth through improved visibility,
accountability, and utilization of an organization's data assets.
The
bottom line:
In 2023, more businesses than ever will
be looking to harness the power of their data to drive strategic
decision-making. The ability to be agile, and stay ahead of the competition, in
rapidly evolving markets will rely on access to trusted data. A data integrity
strategy will be critical to not just surviving, but thriving, during the
uncertain times ahead.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Emily is responsible for driving enterprise-level product strategy and roadmaps for Precisely’s data governance, data quality, data prep and MDM capabilities. She works closely with customers and product development teams to drive development, introduction, and adoption of all new products in support of our data integrity product strategy. Emily joined Precisely via acquisition of Infogix in 2021, where she led product strategy and held leadership roles in product management, customer success and marketing. Prior to Infogix, Emily held positions at Cyborg Systems and Respond.com. She has a BA in English literature from San Jose State University and holds a certification in graphic design from The Art Institutes.