Fostering Growth through Information Governance

What a year! As 2018 comes to a close, we are presented with the opportunity to reflect on the events of the past year. From new information governance regulations and data breaches to revelations of increasingly mismanaged data, the data space has faced a tumultuous year in. In spite of political and economic uncertainties, the appeal of new and emerging markets is driving organizations to broaden their footprints and expand globally in the new year.

Data Management

For many companies, global expansion means revenue growth and diversified markets. However, hidden under the surface of the globalization era lies an oft-forgotten yet pivotal function that directly affects every organization's bottom line: data management.

In the face of regulatory compliance requirements, established enterprises with decades of history have spent millions of dollars overhauling their legacy systems to accommodate the need for greater and more granular privacy and data control. These corporations have data strewn across the enterprise – located on multiple servers, file shares, hard drives, sometimes even in physical boxes – and are facing an increasingly number of data breaches and controversy over information asset handling. They don’t know what they have, they don’t know whose it is, and they don’t know how to find it or sort through it.

The Time is Now

Many newer organizations have experienced rapid growth over the past few years and plan to expand into emerging markets in 2019. While congratulations are in order, my question for them is this: What are you waiting for?

The time of reactive policies and outdated systems is passing. Organizations have a vast portfolio of expertise and technology at their disposal, and those who leverage this access and turn it into a competitive advantage will see greater gains well into the future. In today’s privacy era, having insight into enterprise data is no longer a luxury – it’s an absolute necessity.

Organizations with a shorter history have a unique advantage that larger enterprises do not possess: the lack of piled-high legacy data. At the end of 2018, large organizations are still playing catch-up to gain control of data that has been mismanaged for decades. Smaller organizations can leverage new and emerging technologies to take control of their information assets at an early stage to avoid the inevitable problems that come with large data volumes.

2019, Here We Come!

With the size of the digital universe projected to double every two years, it is more important than ever for enterprises to grab a hold of exploding volumes of data at the point of creation and at scale. Growth-oriented companies looking into the future can leverage their data and internalize their locus of control, avoiding the pitfalls of mismanaged data and facilitating rapid expansion. 2019 is going to be your year—start taking control now.

data breaches information governance legacy data privacy regulations

Born in Pakistan, I moved to the beautiful state of Michigan as a young child and stayed there throughout my college years. (Go Lions!) Since coming to work in the Bay Area, I have brought my “hot take” of the day to the region, also known as a “ConspHIRAcy Theory”. When not engaged as the token devil’s advocate, I enjoy deeper discussions on the day’s current events, running a weekly Foosball tournament, and trying the best microwaveable noodles stores have to offer.