FEATURE : DATA MANAGEMENT according to IDC , the volume of data stored globally is doubling every four years .
In this context , with businesses generating and having access to more data than ever before , the questions of scalability and data security are becoming ever more pressing .
In the past , the analysis of this quantity of data would have been too time-consuming to be practical . But now , with the advent of AI , we can interrogate data in depth and at a speed we would only have been able to dream of previously .
THE STRATEGY AROUND
DATA MANAGEMENT SHOULD COME DOWN TO WHAT CONSTITUTES AN ACCEPTABLE RISK FOR YOUR ORGANISATION .
At one end of the scale , data can provide businesses with insights into their operations that enable them to optimise processes and supply chains . At the other end , AI can identify new and unexpected correlations between distinct data sets that might lead to entirely new opportunities and business cases .
We have also seen that those businesses with access to the most data are able to gain competitive advantage in the market when that data is exploited – in compliance with regulation – to its full potential . This might be their own proprietary data , or data to which they have access through some form of sharing arrangement , such as a data trust framework .
In addition , businesses increasingly rely on outsourced providers for a wide range of company functions , from payroll services housing employee data and financial information to CRM systems potentially holding a plethora of personal data relating to individual customers .
While all of this presents a wealth of commercial opportunity , it can also result in a large concentration of data which makes data security critical .
Andrew McMillan , Partner and corporate lawyer , RPC
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