It doesn’t matter what type of organization you’re running – all businesses are essentially “tech businesses” these days.
This is because we collectively create more data on a daily basis than ever before. For enterprise purposes, that data contains the true story of what is really going on. It offers the insight you need to better understand your customers, which can help you anticipate and capitalize on future market trends instead of being forced to watch them pass you by.
Because the amount of data under discussion is enormous, effective data organization becomes crucial for any modern business aiming to stay both competitive and efficient in equal measure. Having access to a virtually unlimited amount of digital information really won’t do you any good if you can’t extract as much value from it as possible.
Thankfully, getting to that point isn’t necessarily as difficult as one might fear. There are a number of best practices for mastering data organization that you can follow, along with actionable strategies that can help you manage data efficiently in the future.
Understanding Data Organization
In a broad sense, data organization means more than just creating and ingesting data. It means making sure the data you do have is in a form that allows you to extract as much value from it as possible.
Sometimes, this will involve digitizing the paper documents that your business has depended on for years. While this is time-consuming, the major benefit is that all that information will become searchable (and thus usable) almost immediately. This also means that you’ll be able to get rid of those older paper documents, ultimately reducing your business’ overhead significantly.
Utilizing Data Collection Forms
Another step that you’ll want to take during this time involves using a data collection form to capture new information whenever possible. Rather than wading through countless reams of paper – which you then have to store and protect – everything is captured digitally.
The major benefit of this, at least from a short-term perspective, is that it is fast. Think about something like a loan approval process at a bank. Instead of forcing a customer to fill out a form, which then has to be submitted to a loan officer, which then has to be passed along to at least one manager before approval, everything moves quickly and digitally. It’s a perfect way to use modern technology to expedite a time-consuming process.
But more than that, it’s also a chance to eliminate errors and data duplication because the information gathered from the data collection form is uniform. It’s automatically in a format that people can use moving forward – eliminating the need to pay someone to go through this administrative process on their own.
With the right tool, a data collection form can be created for nearly any process at your organization. This will help to significantly streamline organizational efficiency in the future.
Implementing Structured Data Systems
Along the same lines, you’ll also want to embrace structured data systems—similar to the data collection form method outlined above. Databases and spreadsheets, when configured properly, ensure that all captured data is in a format that can be properly utilized to extract the maximum amount of value from it. You just need to make sure that all employees are aware of the importance of using these databases and follow the processes put forth at the beginning of your digital transformation.
Data Categorization and Labeling
While creating and ingesting new data, you’ll also want to categorize and label it based on what type of file it is and what is in that file. The more detailed you can be, the better. This will make it easy to retrieve that information, even if an employee doesn’t necessarily know what a piece of information is called. The faster they can find it, the faster they can analyze it, making it easier to act on the insights contained inside.
Ensuring Data Quality and Accuracy
Throughout all this, you’ll want to maintain high data quality and accuracy as much as possible. Regular vendor audits and validation should be conducted to make sure that both of these factors are always taken care of. It’s easier to correct a small problem now than to be reactive and wait for a major issue to happen, at which point you’ll have to work your way back to the root cause.
Leveraging Technology for Data Management
You should always be reviewing technological tools and software that can help enhance your data organization capabilities on an ongoing basis. Never assume you’ve “done enough” to that end. There are always opportunities to use technology to streamline workflows and save money—if you’re actively looking for them.
Data Security and Compliance
The importance of data security and compliance cannot be overstated. Regulations designed to protect sensitive information are in place both in the United States and internationally. They dictate what you can create, how it must be stored, how long it can be stored, etc. Always follow these best practices to the letter to avoid hefty penalties.
Training and Educating Staff
Finally, make sure that you always train your staff on data management best practices. Truly, this is the only way to guarantee company-wide adherence. If you want people to take steps to protect information, don’t assume they’re automatically coming in with this knowledge. Give them the tools they need to thrive, and at that point, the burden falls on them to act on that.
These are just a few of the many best practices that modern businesses can follow to master data organization. But perhaps the most important takeaway from all this is that this problem is only going to get worse before it gets better. As digital transformation continues, more businesses—and their consumers—will embrace advancements like cloud computing with open arms.
This means that data volumes will continue to explode and cutting through the noise to get to the heart of what is really happening underneath will only get more difficult. It’s better to put a plan in place to master data organization now than to put it off, hoping the problem will take care of itself when it won’t.
Thankfully, by putting best practices like those outlined above in place today, modern businesses can be ready for whatever tomorrow might hold. At the very least, they’ll be in a position to enjoy as many advantages of the data-driven digital world with as few of the potential downsides as possible.