How can you best use cloud-based data governance?

Cloud-based data governance is the practice of managing, securing, and optimizing data assets in the cloud. It can help you leverage the benefits of cloud computing, such as scalability, flexibility, and cost-efficiency, while ensuring data quality, compliance, and trust. But how can you best use cloud-based data governance for your organization? Here are some tips and best practices to follow.

1 Assess your data needs

Before you move your data to the cloud, you need to assess your data needs and goals. What kind of data do you have, and where does it come from? How do you use it, and who needs access to it? What are the business outcomes you want to achieve with your data? How do you measure and monitor data quality and performance? These questions will help you define your data governance strategy and framework, as well as identify the cloud services and providers that suit your needs.

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Merrill Albert

Enterprise Data Leader, Data Governance Officer, Data Thought Leader, Chief Data Officer, Fractional Governance, Data Evangelist, LinkedIn Top Data Governance Voice, creator of #CrimesAgainstData
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You need to govern your data, whether it's in the cloud or not. If you're already governing data, you've had to consider issues around governing data that resides on servers in the building, governing data that's accessed from the coffee shop down the street, governing data that's sent to contractors, etc. If you then introduce the cloud, you shouldn't be introducing much new. You will need to understand where the cloud server resides in case there are restrictions on where the data can go, if you will be notified if the server location changes, what security exists for your data, etc.

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2 Choose the right cloud model

Depending on your data needs and goals, you can choose between different cloud models, such as public, private, hybrid, or multi-cloud. Each model has its own advantages and disadvantages, such as security, availability, performance, and cost. You need to weigh these factors and consider how they align with your data governance requirements and policies. For example, if you have sensitive or regulated data, you might prefer a private or hybrid cloud model that gives you more control and protection over your data. If you have diverse or distributed data sources, you might opt for a multi-cloud model that allows you to use different cloud providers and services.

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Merrill Albert

Enterprise Data Leader, Data Governance Officer, Data Thought Leader, Chief Data Officer, Fractional Governance, Data Evangelist, LinkedIn Top Data Governance Voice, creator of #CrimesAgainstData
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If you acquire data from industry sources, check your contract. Maybe people think they're buying data when they are in fact leasing data. Like leasing an apartment, there are things you can and can't do with the data. Some companies may prevent you from sending the data out of the country, which can be problematic if the cloud server is in another country. There are also some countries that aren't friendly to other countries, preventing you from sending data there if that's where the cloud server is. There is a physical server somewhere and you need to know where.

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3 Implement data governance tools and processes

To effectively manage your data in the cloud, you need to implement data governance tools and processes such as a data catalog, data classification, data security, data quality, and data monitoring. A data catalog is a centralized repository that provides metadata, lineage, and documentation about your data assets. Data classification involves assigning labels or tags to your data based on its type, sensitivity, and value. Data security is the process of protecting your data from unauthorized access, modification, or loss with encryption, masking, tokenization, and other techniques. Data quality involves validation, cleansing, enrichment, and other techniques to ensure accuracy and reliability. Finally, data monitoring involves tracking and measuring the performance, usage, and health of your data assets with dashboards, reports, alerts, and other techniques.

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4 Align your data governance with your business goals

Finally, you need to align your data governance with your business goals and objectives. Data governance is not a one-time project, but a continuous process that evolves with your business needs and challenges. You need to review and update your data governance strategy and framework regularly, and communicate and collaborate with your stakeholders and users. You also need to measure and demonstrate the value and impact of your data governance on your business outcomes, such as revenue, efficiency, customer satisfaction, and innovation.

Cloud-based data governance can help you unlock the potential of your data in the cloud, but it requires careful planning, execution, and evaluation. By following these tips and best practices, you can best use cloud-based data governance for your organization.

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5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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How can you best use cloud-based data governance?

1

2

3

4

5

1 Assess your data needs

2 Choose the right cloud model

3 Implement data governance tools and processes

4 Align your data governance with your business goals

5 Here’s what else to consider

Data Governance

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How can you best use cloud-based data governance?

1

2

3

4

5

1 Assess your data needs

2 Choose the right cloud model

3 Implement data governance tools and processes

4 Align your data governance with your business goals

5 Here’s what else to consider

Data Governance

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