Data governance is to business leaders and IT decision-makers as losing weight is to New Year’s resolution enthusiasts. There are three reasons why this is the case:
- It is often put off until the last minute (or people find an excuse to not do it at all)
- The process of attaining the goal is often painful
- Despite the benefits being strategic and long-lasting, it is easy to fall off the horse
Many people resolve to quickly lose weight in January with the purchase of an overpriced exercise machine, by joining a gym they will visit only sporadically or by undertaking a strict diet that doesn’t last more than a few weeks. We all know that the individuals who have the most success with this goal are the ones who commit to eating nutritious foods, controlling portions, and exercising regularly throughout the year.
The same principle applies to corporate data governance. Rushing to implement data governance activities at the start of the year for compliance purposes can be detrimental to an organization’s overall data privacy, governance and security initiatives. Instead, IT and security teams should adopt a consistent and strategic approach throughout the year versus a rather likely to fail “crash” method.
If your organization is aiming to achieve improved data governance as its New Year’s resolution, here are five healthy habits to adopt in 2025:
1. Align with Established Industry Standards
Fortunately, IT leaders don’t have to establish better data governance from scratch. There are proven data governance frameworks such as the Data Management Body of Knowledge (DMBOK), Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies (COBIT), and the NIST Data Governance and Management (DGM) Profile. While these frameworks offer best practices and guidelines to help organizational data quality, integrity, and security, each one has its strengths and weaknesses:
Framework | Strengths | Weaknesses |
---|---|---|
Data Management Body of Knowledge (DMBOK) | Comprehensive coverage of data management practices; widely recognized; provides a common vocabulary for data management professionals. | Can be complex and overwhelming for beginners; requires significant time and resources to implement fully. |
Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies (COBIT) | Strong focus on IT governance and management; integrates well with other frameworks; provides detailed guidance on control objectives and processes. | Primarily IT-focused, may not cover all aspects of data governance; can be seen as too rigid and prescriptive. |
NIST Data Governance and Management (DGM) Profile | Emphasizes security and risk management; aligns with federal standards; provides a structured approach to data governance. | May be too focused on security for some organizations; can be resource-intensive to implement. |
2. Improve Data Accuracy and Trustworthiness in the Face of Rising Cyberattacks
With cyberattacks growing in number, scale and sophistication across virtually every industry, the importance of data security cannot be overstated. Especially with ransomware attacks escalating, many organizations struggle to recover compromised data and as a result, face substantial financial and operational impacts. Without prioritizing data security, true data governance cannot be achieved. It’s important to adopt a multi-faceted approach that includes incident response planning and crisis communications, business continuity and disaster recovery, digital forensics and threat hunting, endpoint security solutions, and ransomware attack response and remediation.
3. Be Proactive, Not Reactive
To maintain a healthy data governance environment, it is critical to proactively address and prevent security, performance, and availability issues. IT leaders can take control of vulnerability management by:
- Monitoring 24/7: Continuous monitoring of hardware, operating systems (OS), and network performance can help security teams detect any issues and address them promptly.
- Keep Systems Up to Date: It’s critical to keep operating systems patched to ensure protection against the latest known vulnerabilities.
- Consider Vulnerability Management-as-a-service Solutions: Vulnerability management-as-a-service solutions streamline the oversight of liabilities by scanning, identifying, and prioritizing potential threats.
- Validate and Triage Security Alerts: Software that can validate and triage alerts allows security teams to address potential threats before they escalate.
4. Optimize Existing Storage Investments
Often, organizations forget the importance of optimizing their existing data storage investments to enhance performance, capacity, and security. To do this, it’s important to conduct a regular audit of the current storage infrastructure to identify areas for improvement. Then, IT teams should explore where there is room for modernization with technologies such as multi-cloud or hybrid architectures. Regularly inspecting storage investments and modernizing legacy solutions can ensure that technology is up to date with the latest data governance standards.
5. Make Key Data Accessible
Organizations can easily avoid regulatory risks by keeping important company data accessible when needed for auditing and inquiries. Not only does this help maintain compliance with increasing industry standards, but it also reduces the risk of non-compliance penalties.
Maintaining Data Governance for the Long Haul
2025 must be the year that organizations prioritize data governance proactively, strategically and sustainably – or they risk the financial and reputational damages that come when data privacy gets put on the back burner. Fortunately – in my experience – many organizations typically have these best practices already in place but they might not characterize them as “data governance.” Adopting these “healthy habits” and making a concentrated effort to audit and apply these practices to overall business and security strategy will ensure long-term resilience and success in combatting advanced cyber threats.