Harnessing data starts with a data management framework

SINCE the birth of the Internet and adoption of highly automated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems by many companies, there has been an unprecedented explosion in the availability of data. Many companies have switched from using statistics to extrapolate tangents and estimate population characteristics to using complex artificial intelligence (AI) to perform data-mining.

Good decision-making has often relied on good data, and pundits have likened data to fire - a great servant but poor master. There are many riches to be gained if one can harness data well; the Internet is filled with stories of how companies have reduced inventory holding costs or achieved increased sales bundling with smart data management and analytics.

Data management is not binary. One does not simply have or not have it and various risks and opportunities exist at different points on this continuum of data quotient in any company. To effectively make sense of your company's current data management framework, many start by assessing the current level of digitisation of their company.