Information governance is an organization’s framework for managing its data. At one time, information or data governance was seen primarily as a compliance function, with little utility for IT operations. Back-office teams were responsible for governance, which was often viewed as an isolated obligation, unrelated to the larger IT environment.
The importance of information in today’s data-driven business ecosystem has given its governance an essential role in supporting modern IT operations. Organizations without effective information governance are putting their most valuable resources and their business at risk.
What is Information Governance?
Information governance is the framework constructed with internal processes, policies, roles, and standards that an organization uses to manage its data assets. The goal of governance is to ensure data is accurate, compliant, secure, and usable throughout its lifecycle. Companies accomplish this goal by defining who in the organization can use the data and how those entities can use it.
The three key priorities of information governance
- Supporting operational efficiency by having the correct data available at the right time;
- Ensuring regulatory compliance by meeting legal and industry privacy requirements and security standards;
- Managing risk by protecting against data loss or misuse.
Key components of information governance
Effective governance requires a coordinated effort across multiple areas of the organization. Decision-makers must assign roles and responsibilities for data quality, security, and regulatory compliance. These individuals will carry out the activities necessary for effective data governance.
The following key components are essential for a viable information governance program.
- Data classification: All data resources must be classified by sensitivity, compliance requirements, and value to the company. The classification process should include cataloging and making the data searchable for users. Teams may struggle to classify complex, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments comprehensively.
- Lifecycle management: Organizations must create policies to manage information collection, use, storage, and processing. Teams should define backup retention policies to align with internal and regulatory requirements. Sensitive data must be securely deleted from storage media when it is no longer needed.
- Access controls: Companies need to enforce strong controls to ensure sensitive data is used only by authorized entities and in compliance with regulations. The controls should align with any regulatory standards, such as HIPAA, that a company needs to follow.
- Regulatory compliance: Compliance with industry and legal regulations is mandatory for many companies handling customer data. Teams must ensure that access controls, retention policies, and recovery plans meet the standards for their regulated data.
- Auditing and reporting: Organizations must monitor and track who accesses or modifies data. Teams handling regulated data must retain logs to document compliance with privacy standards.
Why is Information Governance Essential in Modern IT Operations?
Companies collect, store, and generate large volumes of information in today’s digital business landscape. Organizations often employ complex multi-cloud and hybrid environments to address business objectives and requirements. Teams may use data ineffectively or insecurely due to the fragmented nature of information resources.
Businesses implementing information governance achieve multiple benefits from a unified strategy to manage their valuable and sensitive data.
Data security and compliance
Companies should establish clear policies about how data is collected, stored, accessed, and used across all parts of the environment. Teams must utilize security tools to enforce the policies, for example, by encrypting and logging all transfers involving sensitive data. Organizations can leverage advanced AI solutions to support information governance and enhance security by automating data classification and implementing intelligent, policy-based encryption.
Robust governance frameworks support compliance with regulations such as GDPR or HIPAA. Companies can develop policies that meet all regulatory guidelines and ensure they are enforced across a complex infrastructure. The polices minimize the risks of data breaches and the costs of non-compliance penalties.
IT operational efficiency
Organizations practicing information governance gain visibility into data resources as it is classified and cataloged. Teams can leverage this visibility to streamline operations by implementing measures such as storage optimization to minimize costs and reduce latency. Centralized data management ensures operations are using accurate data and eliminates data silos that degrade performance.
Companies with consistent data classification and naming standards enable cross-system operations, optimizing the benefits of multi-cloud infrastructure. The consistency also simplifies migrations and upgrades while minimizing configuration errors. Teams can derive more accurate analytics across the environment with the consistency provided by data governance.
High data quality
Companies that enforce information governance policies ensure they are using accurate, high-quality data across the organization. Teams can collaborate more effectively with quality, consistent, and available data resources. The availability of high-quality data fosters productivity and innovation, which are crucial for a growing business.
Decision-makers can make better choices when provided with accurate, up-to-date information. Companies can improve competitiveness with data governance by making more efficient use of their resources than their rivals.
Flexibility and agility
Teams can achieve greater flexibility and agility with the data consistency and accuracy enabled by effective information governance. Governance supports scalability and adaptability by allowing companies to integrate new technologies smoothly. The standardization achieved by governance is essential for efficient cloud migration.
Business continuity and risk management
Organizations can protect themselves from extended business disruptions by gaining visibility into their data resources, enabling them to quickly recover from an outage. Businesses understand where their valuable data is stored and can take the necessary steps to bolster security and protect it. They can more easily manage the risk of handling regulated data with the knowledge afforded by information governance.
VAST Supports Your Information Governance Initiative
At VAST, we understand the importance of your data and how effective information governance can help you optimize its value to your business. Our information governance service has our team working with you to gain a deep understanding of your data resources and how you use them. Then we implement the measures necessary to ensure its integrity, protect it from unauthorized use, and comply with all regulatory requirements. We address your existing data estate as well as new data created and collected by your company.
Talk to our experts and learn how our team can work with you to govern and manage your data.
