Archives for January 2019

What is Data Management?

January 10, 2019 by Morris Kagan

Data management is the practice of organizing and maintaining data processes to meet ongoing information lifecycle needs. The emphasis on data management began with data processing, but data management methods have roots in accounting, statistics, logistical planning and other disciplines that predate the emergence of corporate computing in the mid-20^th century.

It’s the implementation of policies and procedures that put organizations in control of their business data regardless of where it resides.

Data management is concerned with the end-to-end lifecycle of data, from creation to retirement, and the controlled progression of data to and from each stage within its lifecycle. If done correctly, data management minimizes the risks and costs of regulatory non-compliance, legal complications, and security breaches. It also provides access to accurate data when and where it is needed, without ambiguity or conflict, which avoids miscommunication.

Any kind of business data is subject to data management principles and procedures, but it’s particularly useful in rectifying conflict among data from duplicative sources. Organizations that use cloud-based applications in particular find it hard to keep data orchestrated across systems. Data management practices make sure that data conforms to organizational best practices for access, storage, and back up.

What are the benefits of data management?

The benefits of data management include enhanced compliance, greater security, improved sales and marketing strategies, better product classification, and improved data governance to reduce organizational risk.

The right data integration solution helps you break down data silos and address data problems while giving you a plan for the future.

With data integration solutions from solutions like QuickData’s, you can:

Boost productivity. Get more mileage from existing resources – and increase your productivity – by working from a single point of control. You’ll quickly and easily access the data you need.
Share more of the workload. An intuitive interface means you can entrust data to business users, giving them more control so you can get back to your own tasks at hand.
Be confident your data is ready for action. Auditing tools that monitor processing and source data lineage let you know your data is primed and prepared for the next step.
Access the data you need. With read, write and update access capabilities to more than 60 data sources, the data you need is always at your fingertips.

QuickData is a data management consulting firm focused on helping organizations cut down on inefficiencies within their operations. We teach you how to optimize your revenue by providing you a state-of-the-art automation program aimed at solving business problems related to data.

Stop the Search: Manage Your Data Correctly

January 3, 2019 by Morris Kagan

Data management can be intimidating but don’t let that hold you back. Learn to manage it correctly; and your data will work for you in amazing ways.

Add a data base management system (DBMS) to your business, and you have taken a first step to improving production, securing your research, increasing your marketing potential and streamlining your processes. A data management system can be required to receive many grants or to win government projects.

When it comes to data management, here are six preliminary questions to ask.

What data do I collect?
Do I follow a process for collecting and documenting my data?
Who contributes data–just me or others, too?
What format is the data in?
Where is the data stored?
Is the data being backed up?

Compare the following suggestions to your own data practices. Take steps to improve the weaker areas of your company, then you are on the right path of success.

Documentation – Document the processes and workflows you follow when collecting and managing your data in a README file. It’s important to follow standards within your field for documenting contextual information about your data.

Formats – Ideally, data should be stored in open, non-proprietary formats. This ensures that data is easily accessible well into the future. This can be done simply by saving files as a CSV instead of an Excel spreadsheet or a text file instead of Microsoft Word document.

Storage – IU offers several options for data storage. You can store your data on the Cloud through IU Box, which also provides excellent versioning and collaborative functionality. Whatever you do, make sure you back up your data and not just rely on your hard drive to keep it safe. Also note that these options do not ensure long-term preservation.

Sharing and Access – Consider storing data in IUSW to promote discoverability and access when appropriate and necessary.

Security – Make sure you have a plan in place to prevent security breaches. Outside of organizing your data correctly, this is the most important step you will take.

Whether you need to generate reports, track inventory, review past invoices or simply make a quick decision, you can do so with a database management system.

Database management systems make businesses and organizations faster and better. It can be intimidating to move all of your data over, but rest assured that it will be worth it. QuickData is a data management consulting company focused on teaching you how to cut down on operational inefficiencies aimed at solving business problems related to data.

Gathering customer service data doesn’t have to be hard.

January 3, 2019 by Morris Kagan

Gathering data is like pulling together ingredients for a very nice dinner. You shop, you carry home your groceries, and you take things out of the pantry to create a memorable dish.

Similarly, data must be researched, collected, and brought together to create a memorable and accurate matrix of the ebb and flow of your company.

Using data to understand your customers really isn’t as complex as you think, but it does require a thoughtful analysis of where and how you collect meaningful data. By defining which aspects of customer behavior are most significant to your business, you can measure and analyze better ways to engage your customer and ultimately increase your business and sales.

The second part of gathering accurate data is learning how to map it to your financial data.

Customer data and financial data are two different things, and they are kept in different places. You will likely have to do a lot of cleaning to get good analytics, but you can’t create useful reports unless you have clean, accurate data.

Once you have a handle on the data available, you can then create a key matrix. To do so, you need to know what you are analyzing and why. Are you comparing apples to apples or apples to oranges?

Remember, customer data is anything you want it to be — contact information, purchasing and payment history, demographic information, psychographic information and even social media updates.

Resist the temptation to keep track of everything in a spreadsheet. In fact, you shouldn’t even use a spreadsheet! You need a proper database or customer relationship management (CRM) system.

Next to your company’s financial data, your customer data is the lifeblood of your company. If you lose it, the damage can be irreparable.

The five best practices for customer data management include:

Choose critical data carefully.
Don’t collect it all at once.
Clean your data.
Validate your data.
Keep your customer data secure.