The importance of proper data management was reiterated recently with the advent of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). The normal knee jerk reaction by many is to ask, “What do I have to do to comply?”, rather than “How can I use this to my advantage?”
An interesting article on the Mybroadband website discusses the importance of developing data skills. Apart from the practical value of developing data skills to be POPIA compliant, there are other major benefits such as increased efficiency and data mining to solicit more business, amongst others.
The information below is extracted from the article Why your business should focus on developing data skills published on the Mybroadband website.
Data has been called the “new currency” and the “new oil” of business – an asset so critical that it undergirds the entire operational structure. Yet for all the value being ascribed to data, companies are still in the early stages of building their data discipline and skills.
Why is business data so important?
Simply put, poor data management and insufficient data analysis are impacting the bottom line.
Organisations have been collecting data for a long time, but there has typically not been a comprehensive operational approach or a focus on the necessary skills to address this data effectively.
Companies are starting to feel the effects of poor data management or insufficient data analysis, with wasted time being a top concern – hunting for data consumes time that could be used to focus on core functions and new innovations.
Increased efficiency, another common business goal, comes as a result of well-designed systems and workflow – both of which can be optimised with effective data analysis.
Data management and analytics should therefore be treated as a comprehensive program, rather than a collection of point tools for specific purposes.
Focus on data skills
As more companies use data to improve their internal operations and to better understand their customers, the development of new and improved data skills will bring them big success.
These skills address a wide range of common business problems, from building a resilient data architecture, to improving the speed of data analysis, to mining data for new insights.
In essence, the new currency of business requires new data specialists to extract value for all stakeholders.
Is there a data skills shortage?
Given the relative novelty of the data function, one would expect that companies have a particularly strong demand for entry-level positions, but this is not the case.
In fact, companies with hiring plans in 2021 are looking for more mid-level data specialists than in any other field.
Part of the reason for this is that teams in the emerging fields of data and cybersecurity are often created from existing software and infrastructure teams.
However, the high demand for specialised skills indicates a pipeline problem that has no easy solution.
The explosion in demand for the advanced skills exacerbates the problem.
In the data field, time is of the essence
Companies have massive amounts of data—now the question is what to do with it?
The ability to rapidly and effectively analyse data can improve time to market, enhance customer satisfaction and drive growth for the future.
As organisations place a priority on speeding up data analysis, they should also place a priority on speeding up skill discovery and development.
If you are a small to medium business battling to come to grips with all of this, including POPIA demands, you may want to investigate a solution which we have developed for such businesses. The Do-It-Yourself POPIA Solution is available free of charge to Moonstone Compliance clients, and at a very competitive price to the industry AND the public.
