Data Management is the practices and processes that make information an asset to the company, driving innovation and decision-making. It involves efficiently gathering data, organizing, protecting and storing information to provide an all-encompassing source of reliable information.

Effective data management also helps businesses gain competitive advantage through improving efficiency in their operations and reducing costs. It allows them to enhance the customer experience, maximize their resources, speed up decision-making, and respond faster to market trends. It can also help minimize privacy and security concerns that could damage a company’s image, increase costs of compliance and ultimately lead to legal liability.

Companies today have access to data from a variety sources, such as software-as-a-service applications APIs, mobile apps and Data Management Internet of Things devices. Effective data management strategies and software can integrate these disparate sources into a single source of consistent, reliable information. It also helps reduce the amount of information that needs to be stored and processed. This can reduce storage costs and also reduce processing workloads.

In a world that is dominated by data, it is crucial that those who use it locate what they require quickly and effectively. It can be difficult to navigate through a complicated and expanding data environment especially when it’s difficult to comprehend how the various systems interact. Data management tools can simplify the complexity by providing better visibility of data assets via catalogs as well as metadata-driven data dictionaries, and data lineage records. It can also make it easier for data scientists and analysts to find, access, and analyze data.