Information governance challenges will have a negative impact on any organization’s overall performance if left unmanaged. From safeguarding sensitive information to adhering to complex regulatory frameworks, IG plays an integral role in navigating this dynamic landscape. In this article, we will discuss the top barriers to have an effective data governing implementation.
The most common information governance challenges are managing data growth, data siloes, limited resources, lack of support, poor data quality, no formal change management, regulatory compliance, and employee awareness.
Crafting a tailored and coherent strategy personalized to your company’s unique requirements is of utmost importance in tackling these challenges. By integrating the foremost principles and components of IG, you can effectively mitigate critical hurdles and obstacles that may arise.
This proactive approach will play a pivotal role in streamlining operations, enhancing data security, and ensuring regulatory compliance, leading to a significant reduction in the number of obstacles faced.
Information Governance Challenges on the Rise
Every organization, no matter what size, is struggling to manage the ever growing mountain of information in its repositories and digital systems. This has made it extremely complex to comply with governmental, financial, and industry regulations. However, following the latest IG trends play an important role in making this process efficient.
There are over 100,000 rules and regulations governing corporate operations worldwide.
1- Managing data growth
In this digital age, the volume of data generated is exploding at an unprecedented scale. Businesses are adopting digital technologies to operate more efficiently which made it easier for all organizations to generate data super-fast. Managing this exponential growth has become one of the most pressing issues faced by businesses across industries.
Storing and organizing such huge amount of data requires to have a scalable infrastructure and utilizing cost effective technologies. Organizations relying on on-premises repositories will find it hard to scale to accommodate and it will cost them a lot of money. As a result, many businesses are turning to cloud-based storage solutions, which offer flexibility and scalability, enabling them to meet evolving data demands without excessive upfront investments.
2- Data siloes
Data siloes create significant inefficiencies and hinder organizations from fully leveraging the value of their data. It refers to the practice of storing data in isolated, fragmented, and disconnected systems or departments within an organization, often resulting from a lack of integration and collaboration between different business units.
Having critical information separated across multiple departments and systems will eventually create difficulties for organizations to detect redundancy, apply robust security, and consolidate them into a one single dashboard for later analysis. This will result in valuable insights and opportunities not being discovered in addition to uncomplete decision making.
It’s estimated that the average company has more than 2,000 silos of information.
3- Limited resources
Limited skilled resources are regarded as one of the top information governance challenges due to the specialized expertise and knowledge required to effectively implement and maintain robust IG program.
Finding and retaining such professionals having the necessary skills to enable smooth data governance and compliance with legal and industry regulations is not an easy task.
When allocating your resources each year or quarter, be sure to include strategies for data governance. You should also use automation in your business processes to reduce the workload of your staff and maximize the value of the data you collect.
4- Lack of support
Whenever you want to initiate a new transformative project within an organization, you need to have the support from the top management. They need to make sure that you are allocated with the budget needed, resources, and training to be able to implement the changes that you are foreseeing without disruption.
In this case also, a governance leader should be assigned to help the team by giving them directions and developing internal policies that everyone within your organization should follow. Not only that, but he/she also should be responsible for updating these policies to keep with the latest developments in this domain.
Every now and then new rules and regulations are introduced that’s why it is critical to have an assign personnel or a team of specialized workforce.
5- Poor data quality
Poor quality data can lead to disastrous consequences within the organizations if you rely on data to make informed business decisions instead of following your intentions and gut feeling.
That is why you should have periodic audits to ensure that data is of high quality, updated, and accurate to enable your employees to have the best tools in hand to take a business decision based on this most valuable asset.
6- No formal change management
The absence of formal change management can represent a significant threat to your business operations due to its potential to undermine the successful implementation and sustainability of IG initiatives.
Without a structured approach, organizations may face resistance to new policies and procedures, limited user adoption of new technologies, and insufficient understanding of the related benefits.
A comprehensive change management strategy, encompassing clear communication, stakeholder engagement, training, and continuous monitoring, is crucial to overcome resistance, and achieve long-term success in managing data effectively and securely.
7- Regulatory compliance
In today’s digital world, all organizations must adhere to different rules and regulations such as GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA which are imposed by various governmental bodies and industry standards to ensure data protection, privacy, and security.
Failure to meet regulatory obligations may result in severe consequences, including hefty fines, reputational damage, and legal liabilities. In this digitally advanced world, this can be handled effectively by automating related work procedures to ensure the best output every time.
8- Employee awareness and training
Employee awareness and training rank among the top information governance challenges due to the critical role personnel play in safeguarding data and adhering to internal related policies.
Employees use and share data daily making them the most critical factor to protect against data breaches and privacy violations. That is why there has to be a good training program that will them to fully understand the consequences of misusage of data and how it can affect the trust in the organizations.
By empowering them with the knowledge and skills needed to properly manage their data, organizations will be able to decrease the risk of sensitive information falling in the wrong hands.
