Intelligent CIO North America Issue 37 | Page 46

CIO OPINION
The more sophisticated your data management tools are , the greater your need for complex processes and skilled people .
data it ingests or outputs . With that information , you can determine whether the solutions and configurations you have in place are optimal from a cost perspective .
Data product providers offer basic cost monitoring tools that can help you gain some level of visibility into what you ’ re spending in situations like this . But for deep and granular visibility , you must pair data cost monitoring solutions with effective processes , such as tagging of data assets , that help you make more sense of the information produced by monitoring solutions .
5 . Making data accessible to users
Data isn ’ t worth much to your business if the people who need it struggle to access it . Unfortunately , the more complex and sophisticated data products are , the more challenging it often becomes for nontechnical users to consume data .
By building semantic layers on top of the platform that you use to manage data , you make it easy for users to consume data with less friction and through the tools they prefer to work with .
Because each user ’ s data processing and sourcing needs are different you can ’ t simply deploy automated solutions and call it a day , you need to assess the requirements of your data processes use cases and users , then implement solutions tailored to them .
You must also establish governance rules to ensure that data is managed securely as it flows across your business to serve the needs of your various users .
Conclusion
Tools are only part of the equation for modern data management – you can never fully remove people and processes from the picture .
In many cases you ’ ll find that the more sophisticated your data management tools are , the greater your need for complex processes and skilled people to help maximize the impact of those tools will be . p
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