Outsell Case Study — Data Inventory
One of the hardest things for organizations is getting a handle on their data. I was recently interviewed for a podcast and asked what I thought would be done by now, referencing my 30 years in information services and technology. My answer was that in this modern era of computing, I thought companies would have their act together when it comes to understanding their data. I thought by now they’d “get” their data. But they still don’t.
Data is foundational to the quality of most modern-day applications, especially ones using AI. As the old adage goes, garbage in, garbage out, especially when it comes to the quality of the data being used.
We recently surveyed CIOs in a vertical that will soon be greatly impacted by the Internet of Things (IoT). We asked them about their needs and concerns and, to a tee, they all mentioned harnessing, codifying, managing, and leveraging data. This has been going on since the inception of Outsell. Enterprises back in 1999 were dealing with their data. And here we are years later with the same problem, only on steroids because of the proliferation of, yes, data!
Whether you are dealing with data or information or needing to know what’s where in this category of asset, it’s time to take inventory. Basic inventory. Where is your data? Who has it? What system is it in? What data is licensed from the outside and what are you generating inside? What about the data in your CRM or the data in your NetSuite financial application? The data in CAD systems and the data coming off the back of the airplanes or medical devices you produce or deploy? It’s all data, and it’s everywhere. And so is information.
It’s not trivial to get a handle on it, but it must be done. This is an era of hacking, of privacy and security breaches caused unwittingly by employees, of algorithms that must be trained and fed, and of essential GDPR and CCPA compliance. Having a handle on data is requisite, and when I say data, I also mean information. In fact, if you are really progressive, you’ll add in all your software, memberships, and subscriptions. But for now, let’s start with the data and information you make, license, or buy.
We took our 6 Ds of data licensing and added in many more attributes that are important to understand, measuring twice and cutting once to come up with Outsell’s Data Inventory Worksheet. Make the process of inventorying data interactive and have everyone contribute, or be like the census and go person to person, house to house. Whatever your method, this spreadsheet is a handy reference for making sure that you know where your data is at night.
As I’ve written before, treat data as if it’s money in your bank account, and set up your access and inventory and control privileges accordingly. It starts with basic accounting, just like with money.
Here’s to getting your data house in order. Call us if you need some help.