‚If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it‘ – most people probably know this famous management theorem originated from Peter Drucker. Peter Drucker’s theorem has two implications: 1st. Only manage/control, what your are able to measure, 2nd. Only measure, what you really want to manage/control.
Unfortunately, measuring Key Performance Indicators as basis for management decisions is already a certain challenge in many companies, given the fact, that the necessary data are often distributed over various IT systems, databases and business processes, based on a historically grown and unconsolidated IT and process landscape.
Whereas a lot of companies already started to building up IT landscape plans (usually as part of their Enterprise IT Architecture Management) as well as process management systems, the important topic of data management often still suffers under a shadowy existence.
With regard to the digitalization of business this is really a problem, since e.g. the ‚Internet of Things‘ adds a huge number of data from new devices in unusual locations to the already existing graveyard of data. The likelihood that this development leads to undesired results and side-effects is high, if the data are not systematically managed.
Besides digitalization of business the adequate protection of intellectual property and person related data against professional espionage are additional strong reasons to setup a dedicated expertise and resource for data management.
Questions such as ‚which data are our mission critical crown jewels, that require highest protection?‘ or ‚which data are less critical and can be stored in a (public) cloud?‘ or simply ‚what are is master data source for location data?‘ arise in course of almost every outsourcing, business transformation or digitalization project sooner or later. It helps to gain speed, if the answers to these questions are already available in the drawer.
Coming back to my introduction, a data management system can provide a proper basis for extending and improving a company’s ability to adequately manage its business. All aforementioned aspects should be reason enough to start managing data systematically under one company-wide framework rather sooner than later.
KuBra Consult 