Data management and data security were at the forefront of this year as we learned to navigate a pandemic where companies moved to remote life. This made many vulnerable to security breaches. As we head into 2021, we wanted to provide you with tips and insights as to how you can prepare your data for the new year when it comes to managing it and upholding integrity.

1. Clean Your Data

You should always have a plan in place to maintain clean data. Start off the new year by getting rid of duplicate data. It is so important to the foundation of any data management system to clean and remove any duplicate, spam, or incorrect data.

Resources: 

• Why Your SMB Should Care About Clean Data
• 5 Ways to Start Data Cleansing

2. Revisit the Foundational Structure of Your Data

This year was a shift to focusing on the Customer 360 view. To start shifting your mindset towards this view, it’s important to revisit the foundational structure of your data to ensure it can get you to where you want to go. Remember your foundational data can then impact your secondary or tertiary data. This data will be important in achieving things like custom experiences and personalization (which you can do by visiting one of these best web design locations) that seem to be upcoming trends for 2021 (stay tuned for #6).

3. Optimize Your Strategy Based on Last Year’s Performance

The end of the year means lots of reporting to dig in and analyze. Take a tour around your data within your department to see what performed well, what didn’t, and how you can improve going into the new year. Sometimes you’ll realize you don’t even need to reinvent the wheel and might just need to make minor adjustments.

4. Revisit Your Data Security Measures

With a lot of employees moving to remote work, it’s important to ensure that you have security measures in place to combat breaches and attacks. Working remotely can bring its own vulnerabilities so make sure you have a plan to walk your employees through to keep your most secure data safe.

Resources: 

• The Modern Marketer Needs To Be a Data Security Pro, Too
• 9 data security trends IT departments should expect in 2021
• Seven cybersecurity predictions for 2021

5. Transparency and Compliance is Key

Ensure that you are following compliance standards with your data and that you are transparent with your customers and clients about what you intend to use with that data. We may see a shift to tighter data privacy laws and how much information customers are willing to give so it’s important to make sure you stay up to date.

Resources: 

• Here’s How IT Leaders Can Adapt to Stricter Data Privacy Laws

6. Establish a Data-Driven Culture

A data-driven culture embraces the use of data in decision making. It treats data as a strategic asset of the company by making data widely available and accessible (CIO). Start to migrate towards this in order to showcase how important data can make an impact in driving your business forward. 

Resources: 

• 7 Steps To Unify Data and Create Connected Experiences Customers Expect
• 3 Ways Every Marketer Should Think About Their Data
• What Are Data Silos?
• Challenges With Data? You’re Not Alone

If you need help with your current data management and integrity, contact us for a consultation.