Data hoarding may not be a term you're familiar with, but you could be a data hoarder without even realizing it! Things we're going to focus on around this idea of data hoarding are which data is the right data for your organization, when and why you actually use your data you're collecting, and how OBV may be able to help you in slimming down your data bloat.
We all know data is important to companies, but just what type of data is the most efficient and cost effective is what's most important. Companies today are accumulating massive amounts of data from internal day to day operations, financials, and customer information. They're using various systems to collect this data, and the real problem is, more than half of that data collected is unleveraged. Companies have a serious need to manage unstructured data.
We've seen this issue show face in several different forms. The first being collecting data just for the sole purpose of collecting it in trying to keep up with the competition of the digital world. Companies know they need data in order to keep up with technology and be able to stay in the game with their customers, but most companies just don't know how to manage and structure all their data. This can lead to unintended negative consequences. You need to know what you're collecting, how you're collecting it, and why you're collecting it; otherwise, you will easily find yourself in over your head and at a much higher risk of data breach.
The next issue is having the appropriate use of data. You want to make sure you're cataloging and quality checking for accuracy. If you don't make sure that your data is good, your control points are lost.
Lastly comes the issue with cost optimization. A lot of companies are using cloud-based storage to lower their costs; however, by continuing to add data you don't actually use or need to these clouds, your cost continues to go up and you're not truly optimizing the best cost of your data. You need to look at the unit costs with your cloud storage and think about how you can see in real time how much it actually costs to store your data.
Am I a Hoarder?
So how can you tell if you're hoarding data you don't really need? The first step is to review what data is available in your catalog - think when was the last time you used this data set, is it really necessary, and can you reduce some of your historical data? Another thing to consider is your use of third party data. This can give you a richer picture of your customer data, but it also can give you a big amount of data that may be necessary. It could be cheaper to look a public on demand subscription instead.
It's also important to look at your current use cases for data usage. Do an internal analysis to figure out the core domains of data in adjunct with a log analysis of what is touched and how often. This is lead to patterns of usage where you can then decide where to start trimming down some of your data.
We Can Help!
Here at Opening Bell Ventures, we are skilled in how to help you best manage your current data needs and prevent any future risks. We're comfortable asking the hard questions to help identify your critical data assets. We can help figure out how you're consuming storage on cloud platforms and what are current optimization opportunities with your cloud cost. We can also help with sophisticated data science work. We have experts in the field and that can be of assistance with building an algorithm to manage risk or a hypothetical analysis to create trendline.
Whatever your need may be, we can help to create the most cost-effective way to reach your goals using the right amount of data.
Visit our website at Offerings | Opening Bell Venture (openingbellventures.com) to learn more and reach out!
