Curating data to drive business decisions

IN GOD we trust, all others must bring data, is a line attributed to the American statistician W Edwards Deming, and highlights the importance of statistical measurement and analysis in verifying facts and confirming their viability. However, as the volume of data grows exponentially, this becomes far more difficult with each passing month.

While the fake news epidemic may be most noticeable on social media platforms, businesses face a similar challenge internally. Misused, fictitious or ambiguous data can lead to serious errors in decision making, as well as reputation damage, and breaches of legislation that lead to costly fines.

Since the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force, this has become increasingly important, as the legislation increases the onus on companies to make sure they know what data they store, where they store it and whether they are using it in a compliant, secure fashion.