Identifying and Preventing Information Leakage at Your Organization
Information leakage poses a serious threat to organizations at every level. To reduce your risks, you must understand how to identify and prevent the...
Modern life relies heavily on technology and generates a lot of data that organizations transform into usable ...
Modern life relies heavily on technology and generates a lot of data that organizations transform into usable information. Organizations that store, access, and manipulate this information must have a comprehensive strategy for protecting it.
What is an information governance plan? Simply put, it's the strategy organizations use to safeguard their information assets. Whether they use physical storage, local servers, or the cloud, organizations must establish a clear plan for governance.
In more technical terms, information governance is a strategic framework designed to help organizations manage, protect, and utilize their information assets. Organizations must do this in a manner that complies with legal and regulatory requirements. They must also mitigate risks like ransomware and support business objectives.
Unfortunately, not all companies establish a written plan. Failing to do so can create compliance issues down the line.
People often use the terms "data" and "information" interchangeably, but they mean different things in the tech world. Data is the raw material, while information results from organizations analyzing and organizing that data.
For example, a team of payroll tax analysts has thousands of records of payments made on behalf of employees over the years. By itself, a row of these payments does not amount to much. However, when you can tie payments to an individual employee or analyze payroll tax payments for the quarter, that becomes usable information.
How does information governance differ from a data governance plan? The main difference is in the focus of each plan. One protects raw data, and the other protects valuable information.
There is also a difference in scope. Data management tends to focus solely on the management and protection of raw data. Information governance expands beyond the records and includes cybersecurity and network management along with aspects of data management.
How well a governance plan achieves its goals depends on familiarity with and the inclusion of critical elements. These can vary across industries, organizations, and the data type handled. Consider the following components:
An information governance plan is a strategic framework designed to help your organization manage, protect, and utilize your information assets. Organizations must do this in a manner that complies with legal and regulatory requirements.
Why should you introduce a governance plan at your company? Here are some of the top advantages.
Organizations must comply with a growing number of data privacy regulations. Examples include Europe's GDPR, America's HIPAA, and California's CCPA. Organizations must prioritize compliance or risk hefty fines. For example, Meta faced a $1.3 billion fine in May 2023 for reportedly violating the GDPR.
We’ve written about email archiving and compliance in another blog post. Take a look.
Organizations can streamline their operations and eliminate redundancies by implementing standardized policies and procedures for managing information. This results in cost savings and improved productivity.
A robust information governance plan helps to identify and mitigate various risks associated with information management, such as data breaches, loss of intellectual property, and legal disputes. Organizations can minimize potential financial and reputational damage by proactively addressing these risks.
With proper information governance, organizations are better equipped to access, analyze, and leverage their data for better decision-making. This can result in more informed strategic planning, improved business intelligence, and competitive advantage.
Like any system, reaping the rewards depends on how well you implement it. Following best practices can set your organization on the right path. Here are some of the most important things to remember when strategizing:
Companies must create governance plans that are unique to their businesses. That said, one strategy has helped many companies to manage data worldwide. Consider these reasons for moving to the cloud:
The emergence of the cloud is definitely something to take into account when creating or updating your plan. How will your organization handle the challenges?
At Cloudficient, our migration specialists have over a century of combined experience in helping companies upgrade to cloud computing. Moving to the cloud opens up a wide range of options for your business. Our clients have entirely re-imagined how they do business, serve clients, and hire workers.
What, in a nutshell, is an information governance plan change that could significantly impact your business for all the right reasons? That's easy: Move to the cloud. Contact us for a quote to get started.
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