How enterprise data management helps manufacturers transform data into a competitive advantage

Manufacturing generates enormous amounts of data and, as the industry becomes more connected, data volumes are only set to grow. Making sense of all this data to support data-driven decisions remains a complex challenge for several reasons.

One of the key reasons is the lack of an "enterprise-wide” approach to managing data. In today's data-driven business landscape, manufacturers that use enterprise data management (EDM) can improve their decision-making capabilities, enhance operational efficiency, and gain a competitive advantage.  

What is data management?

Data management is an umbrella term that refers to the practical work, development, policies, technologies and roles an organization has in place to effectively manage the data it uses and generates. Broadly, it encompasses everything from developing a data strategy to various operational activities such as data security and quality control.

While most organizations practice some form of data management, it isn't always effective, aligned with the business's best interests, or underpinned by policies or rules that are consistent across the organization.

Why some manufacturers manage their data better than others

A key differentiator is the priority given to data management within the organization. Those manufacturing companies that excel at data management employ EDM, which ensures that data and its management are on the agenda of the whole organization—from management to individual employees.

In today's data-driven business landscape, effective enterprise data management (EDM) is crucial for manufacturers seeking to improve decision-making, enhance operational efficiency and gain a competitive advantage.

Effective data management is directly tied to business value

As manufacturers navigate new challenges and market realities, effectively managing and using data directly impacts their ability to drive smart, sustainable and resilient operations. Effective data management supports manufacturers through:

• Improved data quality: Ensuring data is accurate, complete, and consistent across all systems and applications reduces errors, improves decision-making and increases operational efficiency.
• Better decision-making: By quickly accessing and analyzing their data, organizations can gain insights to better inform business decisions, identify new business opportunities and stay ahead of the competition.
• Increased collaboration: Access to the same data and agreement on common data terms and their definitions facilitates better collaboration across departments and teams, helping break down silos and improve communication, ultimately leading to better business outcomes.
• Compliance: Managing data securely and compliantly allows manufacturers to ensure compliance with regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), reducing the risk of fines and reputational damage.
• Scalability: EDM can help manufacturers scale their data management processes and infrastructure as their data volumes grow, ensuring data remains accessible, secure and manageable.

Data is the most important intangible asset in business and requires the same level of attention as other assets. This means actively engaging and contributing to the management and development of data across the entire value chain. However, success depends on implementing the right data governance model to benefit quickly from data-driven insights without wasting critical business resources.

Here are three key steps to consider in your data management journey:

1. Start by ensuring that key people in your organization understand that data is everyone's business.

Data is not an "IT thing" nor "someone else's responsibility." Data is created, used, enriched and developed hundreds or tens of thousands of times across the organization daily. Every employee must understand their role and involvement in its creation and maintenance. When data is thought of as a product, it's understood that—like all other products—it requires active ownership and management by everyone involved.

2. Clearly identify and nominate data owners.

Data is not directly derived from organizational charts. Almost in contrast to many other areas of your business, the ultimate responsibility and practical ownership of data should not lie solely with management, but at every level in the organizational hierarchy that data is created and used.

3. Continue to build and deepen your understanding of why data governance is needed.

Employees must understand that incorrect data leads to incorrect understanding and, ultimately, to incorrect business decisions. You are well on your way once this understanding is entrenched within the business. Building an organization's data capabilities can be a complex, yet critical activity for manufacturers. It requires change management, communication and collaboration between business, IT and the entire data management team.

With an enterprise-wide data management strategy and governance, your entire organization acts as a single entity to accurately create, use and store data.

Please contact us to learn more about how CGI is helping manufacturers benefit from implementing an EDM strategy.