Before big data and the cloud, it wasn’t a big deal for organizations to create and manage their own data. But now, with the exponential growth of data, the same tools that are used to manage it have led to data silos that can create barriers to information-sharing and collaboration across departments, while causing IT to spend too much time on managing data infrastructure. So, how can organizations get back in the driver’s seat when it comes to their data?
Here are five ways you can simplify data management and stop data silos in their tracks.
1. Improve visibility
Data silos limit the view of your data. You can’t find opportunities for operational cost-savings, for example, without an enterprise-wide view of your data. By gaining visibility, IT teams can focus on data-driven decision-making that’s important to a company’s financial health. On the other hand, poor data visibility can make safeguarding data more difficult, potentially leading to an organization unwittingly exposing data or making it non-compliant with regulations.
2. Prioritize data protection
Effective data management includes a robust data protection strategy. Some vendors will offer a data protection solution for a wide range of data sources and environments across on-premises, cloud and edge. Some cloud services can back up both on-premises and cloud data, with the flexibility of restores either in the cloud or back to your data center. This type of service may reduce infrastructure management overhead.
3. Develop a way to centralize data from diverse sources
When the same information is stored in different places, and when users download their data into their personal storage, resources suffer. Streamlining data into one source frees up storage and relieves IT stress in buying storage that may not be needed. One way to bust those data silos is to pool all corporate data into a cloud-based data warehouse. Cloud solutions help eliminate technology barriers to collaboration and offer a ready solution for connecting siloed data. This enables departments to work collaboratively in a single, accessible modern data platform.
4. Integrate data efficiently
Organizations can utilize one of several methods to move data from siloed data sources and into the warehouse, including writing scripts using SQL or other scripting languages, on-premises ETL (extract, transform, load) tools, and cloud-based ETL tools. ETL tools help move data safely and reliably from one system to another, just like a city bus moving people from one area of town to the next. These tools are designed to break down silos by providing a technological means to gather data from different sources into a central location for analysis. ETL helps handle data integrity issues so that everyone is always working with fresh data.
5. Centralize data access and control with a data governance framework
Data is one of the most valuable assets for a company. A data governance framework can help ensure that data is available, usable and secure. A streamlined management policy makes it easier and faster to define and enforce data sharing and compliance policies across cloud databases. With centralized data, the whole organization works from the same blueprint. This can lead toward increased accuracy and consistency of reports, improved decision-making, and reduced duplication of data and manual data entry processes.
Let us help you to work smarter, not harder
The widespread adoption of public clouds and new technologies is forcing IT to identify and focus on its core competencies, leveraging service providers to help with tasks such as monitoring and management of on-premises infrastructure. With a team of certified experts who hold over 4,000 technical certifications across all infrastructure, Sirius can help you deliver value to your customers by using a proven methodology that increases efficiency and accelerates the migration of your legacy environments to future-state IT. If you are being challenged with reducing costs, eliminating data silos and lowering the stress levels of your team, contact us today to help you monitor and manage your on-premises infrastructure so you can focus your IT resources on initiatives that drive more value.
