Data Governance Best Practices for Enterprises

1
Data Governance Best Practices for Enterprises
The influx of unprecedented amounts of data in
the hands of product teams only started a decade
ago. Cut to ten years later, the world has
undergone a massive transformation in governing
the data and is establishing methods to
standardize, integrate, and protect such
information. The EUs General Data Protection
Regulation implemented in 2018 was a masterstroke
to the data governance arrangement. It
fundamentally changed
2

• how companies interact with customer data and
  their understanding of the need to
• Minimize the risk of data theft.
• Establish strategic rules for the use of data.
• Implement data compliance.
• Maintain the communication flow, both internally
  and externally.
• Increase the value of data.
• Ensure the continued existence of a company via
  risk management.
• Your data assets are the key metrics that can
  make or break your business. So, lets find out
  if your data management practices are as good as
  it should be.
• First.

Data Governance Definition and Importance
Data governance usually affects the tactical and
operational levels in most enterprises. It is a
set of laws implemented within an organization to
decide the authority and control over data
assets. Data governance involves agreed-upon
models and encompasses the people, processes,
and technologies that describes who can take what
actions, under what circumstances, and how data
assets may be used.
3
Digital transformation is realigning how people
conduct business with data being one of the key
assets that dictate and decide a companys
performance. Only when you can control your data
can you leverage your data assets and make an
effective digital transformation. Deploying a
data governance system that suits the company and
its potential business goals makes it easier for
employees to align and work together towards
achieving it.
Data Governance in the Next Decade Predictions
The world created 1.2 zettabytes (1.2 trillion
gigabytes) of new data in 2010. The amount is
estimated to grow by 44 times and reach 35
zettabytes in 2020. This led the IDC to predict
that the world will create 175 zettabytes (175
trillion gigabytes) of new data in 2025. And
thats a MASSIVE number! Data will continue to
drive innovation, break boundaries, and create
new concerns for day-to-day business operations
in the years to come. No wonder, it has already
led to the subsequent implementation of new data
governance laws around the world. The following
are a few predictions concerning data governance
around the world.
4
A radical shift in roles and responsibilities.
As the world witnessed a major paradigm shift in
the digital landscape, more and more companies
are adopting robust data governance practices
into their organizational framework. Of late,
there has been a cultural shift to a data-centric
approach from the existing campaign-centric one.
This is beginning to make rooms for new roles
and responsibilities like that of a Chief Data
Officer (CDO) in companies that look to associate
with a data-driven world.
The changing data privacy ecosystem.
The digital world has everything to do with
creating, storing, and sharing data constantly.
So no, it isnt wise to implement simple
guidelines and standards to cover multiple
circumstances. Data governance professionals
recognize how we are at the epicenter of data
creation, and a single decision has the power to
make or break a business. The coming decade will
witness privacy regulations becoming more
stringentthe EUs GDPR and the California
Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) are examples of the
new revolution in the making. These laws focus on
the individual and the consumer experience at a
granular level for data officers to take the cue.
5
The foundation of customer experience
Data governance will be at the center of customer
and business relationships. Today, there are a
plethora of channels AR/VR, AI, cross-platform,
omnichannel (to name a few) to connect the
latter with their customers. But the only way to
understand customer experience and converse with
them, in general, is through data. Needless to
say, data governance will emerge as a competitive
differentiator when delivering the best customer
experiences.
Data Governance Best Practices Enterprises
Should Follow
You need to take care of a lot of things while
handling a data governance program. For example,
you need to hire the right people around you who
can handle your data and invest in the right
data management platform to get the best
security. Similarly, below are a few data
governance best practices you should follow
Figure out the operating model.
The operating model is the foundation of any data
governance program. You need to figure out your
enterprises governance structure and define the
roles
6

• and responsibilities to solve data programs as
  one unit. Ideally, there could be three kinds of
  structure.
• Centralized When there is a central authority
  to manage everything.
• Decentralized When there is a group of
  authorities to manage everything.
• Federated When there are independent or
  multiple groups to manage everything with little
  or no shared ownership.

Identify opportunities and benefits.
Try to figure out the good that data governance
may bring to your organization. When you know
the benefits, you can use it to your advantage
and plan your strategies according to the desired
outcome. It can significantly help you get
buy-ins from upper-level management and also
from those that handle data at all organization
levels.
Narrow down your data domains.
Most data domains contain artifacts like data
owners, business processes, data and report
catalogs, data dictionaries, systems and
applications, policies and standards, data
quality scorecards, and the likes. Depending on
the type of industry, you need to determine
these domains for every line of business.
7
Mostly, the identification of a data domain
starts with a problem. It can be the urge to
increase customer experience, manage customer
usage, increase upsell, or the need to validate
a customer requirement.
If it gets intimidating, start small.
Data governance involves complex systems, an
intriguing group of people, and above all, large
amounts of data. So, if you want to go long,
start small. Identify a data crisis in one
business area and expand from there. Likewise,
you can also break more extensive programs into
smaller ones and conduct test processes before
going big. After the initial success, as you
move to the next program, your process will be
more streamlined, efficient, and cost-effective.
Data governance is not just about data,
but people too.
Establish secure communication at every stage of
creation and implementation for your data
governance plan to work and get more buy-ins.
So, next time you plan a new strategy, make sure
to communicate about its benefits.
8
It is also essential that the group responsible
for implementation communicates the
participants roles explicitly in the data
management strategy.
There are more regulations in the making.
The world is coming in terms with the compliance
defined by popular regulations like the GDPR and
the CCPA. They completely changed the way
companies do business, and how people perceive
data protection. Following suit, other countries
like India, South Korea, Brazil, and Thailand
are on the verge of joining the global movement
for stricter data protection laws.
9
How Does a Robust Data Governance
Framework Impact Your Digital Business

• Digital transformation is actively on the radar
  of data security professionals. A well-thought
  and proactively managed data governance framework
  can drive business transformation throughout
  organizational levels in the following
• ways
• Production It helps in deploying automation.
• Procurement and Supply Chain Management It
  reduces cost and induces operational efficiency.

10

• Sales and Marketing It offers customer
  preferences and behavioral insights.
• Management It ensures the overview of corporate
  data assets and the changing market
  opportunities.
• Finance It offers consistent and accurate
  reporting.
• Legal and Compliance It provides a decent way to
  meet the
• Growing international regulatory requirements.

Choosing the LoginRadius CIAM Platform to Help
Enterprises
Data governance isnt a one-time project, rather
a recurring one. To maintain and sustain such
programs require a lot of work. LoginRadius is a
customer
11

• identity and access management (CIAM) platform
  that prepares organizations to fuel data-driven
  decision-making and create better business
  opportunities.
• The CIAM solution allows only authorized
  employees to access and manage customer data, so
  theres a lesser chance of accidental data leak.
  Among the global standards, it adheres to
  include the GDPR and the CCPA. Moreover, it
  supports global regulatory compliances to deliver
  a seamless customer experience.
• A few of the certifications include
• ISO 270012013 For information security
  management system.
• ISO 270172015 For information security for
  cloud services.
• ISO/IEC 270182019 For the protection of PII.
• US Privacy Shield Complaint resolution for EEA
  citizens.
• ISAE 3000 For the protection of non-financial
  information.
• NIST Cybersecurity Framework To reduce
  cybersecurity risk.
• AICPA SOC 2 (Type II) For security,
  availability, process integrity,
  confidentiality, and data privacy.

Conclusion
As already mentioned, data governance revolves
around people, processes, and technology. You
need to stay on top of the changing regulations
and management practices to sustain the shifting
competition.
12
Maximize benefits and optimize your use of data
protection strategies in the new decade. Start
with implementing the data governance best
practices laid out in this article.