BUSINESS TECH | Trust in data powers business growth

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Today’s enterprises leverage data to make faster and better business decisions, minimize risk arising from incorrect data and aim to be audit-ready with trusted data.

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The volume, velocity and diversity of data continue to grow at an exponential pace globally. Furthermore, data is being consumed in real-time and generated through multiple channels of business and various enterprise interactions.

Today’s enterprises leverage data to make faster and better business decisions, minimize risk arising from incorrect data and aim to be audit-ready with trusted data. Customers want to know what personal data an organization has on them, how their data is processed and whether their data is safe and well-managed. In this environment, trust in data becomes a critical element that separates successful businesses from the rest.

Tech Sabado talked to Kaushik Bagchi, vice president, Information Management Asia Pacific, ASG Technologies about the need to rethink and re-architect the underlying data management frameworks to empower businesses even more.

Tech Sabado: Can you please clarify how businesses can leverage data to reap maximum advantages and benefits from their own data?

Kaushik Bagchi: Growing consumer expectations require that governments establish strong processes to ensure data security and efficient data management. To implement these processes, the government needs to align legislation with the evolving needs of a digital society.

Undoubtedly, this is the decade of empowering business growth through trusted data. Data trust is created by knowing who is using the data, what it means to the business, where it exists, where it came from, when it was captured and how it changed over time. Establishing data trust across the data supply chain is possible only by building platforms that allow governed interaction of people, process and technology.

As one of the most data-intensive sectors, the financial services industry has tapped into cutting-edge developments in technology and robust regulations to respond squarely to evolving consumer needs. The industry has therefore taken significant strides toward data trust through improved data security and management.

Tech Sabado: What lessors can businesses draw from data trust initiatives in the financial services sector?

Bagchi: One emerging trend is cell-to-source traceability There is a growing need to demonstrate system-driven traceability of data flow from a cell or a field report all the way to the different sources from which each contributing data element has originated. Be it drawn from a regulatory or a business report, it is becoming imperative that organizations are able to answer questions around inconsistency and inaccuracy of data. This aids in error-free regulatory reporting and giving easy answers to reviews and queries, thereby making companies audit-ready.

One of other key aspect is the right to forget. Data privacy is about the customer’s right to be forgotten. A customer could want companies to restrict or prevent disclosure of personal data and to withdraw their consent for processing their data.

In order to execute and demonstrate this right to forget, companies need to know what customer data is residing in what forms within their complex applications landscape. With technology, companies can establish an automated discovery of this landscape and allow an impact analysis of the change in data consent even before it actually happens.

Tech Sabado: You are referring, sir, to emerging technologies but we also understand that there are existing new technologies that many businesses still aren’t keen in adopting despite their proven track record in delivering a host of advantages. Can you describe these currently available technologies and frameworks in efficient data management?

Bagchi: Well, cloud data migration is definitely a great boost in exploiting data in a big way. Today, the migration of applications and data to the cloud should be happening at a rapid pace but I think most businesses are hedging and I know why.

It is important to be judicious and migrate only what makes sense for the business. Regulations on data privacy must also play an important role when considering cloud migration. Moreover, companies need to know what personal data resides in the cloud and who is using it. Identifying and classifying data is critical before moving to the cloud so that what does not need to be moved stays and what has been moved can be traceable.

Data monetization is another concept that must sink into most decision makers especially in the SME sector. I have to reiterate that critical business decisions are based on data. It goes without saying, good data leads to better business decisions.

Data helps in understanding existing products and services better, which is a foundational layer for companies to launch new products, enhance existing offers, and cross-sell to current customers. When data trust is established, companies can use the right data for any business activity without rework, thereby saving a substantial amount of time and money. Globally, investors give higher valuations to companies that report trusted data.

Tech Sabado: How does data trust figure in all these current and forward-looking data management practices?

Bagchi: At the rate things are changing and with the hindsight of experience in the Covid-19 pandemic, the essential steps to ensure business growth and continuity include making sense of data, building trust across the data supply chain and using trusted data. As businesses chart out or even resume their journey towards modernization and digitalization, organizations should be able to strike the right balance among people, process and technology to successfully increase trust in data and derive more benefits from their invaluable data asset.

by Tony Maghirang, contributing editor
Contributing editor at TechSabado.com | Website

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