Like water is to life on earth, data is essential to today’s businesses. Every day it flows in from operations and out to multiple databases and clouds, where it’s filtered, analyzed, and used throughout the enterprise.
The insights data generates can be priceless—but only if people can find them and put them to good use. And that’s tough to do, because the information flow has becomes a flood, with over 402 terabytes of data created each day, or 147 zettabytes each year. Complicating the picture, most data is contained in unstructured formats like emails, chats, PDFs, text messages, and videos. That means it can’t be analyzed by traditional systems, making it difficult to understand, secure, and integrate into business functions.
As a result, knowledge workers are overwhelmed with data, and 47% struggle to find the information needed to perform their jobs effectively, according to Gartner. The data they do find is often outdated or error-riddled, leading them to faulty conclusions. Thirty-two percent of respondents in the Gartner survey said they had made a wrong decision because they lacked access to the right data.
To improve decision-making and productivity, and ensure that enterprise data is unified, secure, and compliant, companies must find a way to tame the digital deluge. But given today’s massive volumes of incoming information, how is that possible?
The process is less daunting than you might think. The solution requires an effective, universal content management system, streamlined data governance, and synchronized knowledge sharing.
Most organizations have central digital repositories, paper filing systems, or both to contain and manage content. But these systems were not built for the vast volumes of information circulating today. They don’t scale or accommodate changes easily and they lack the ability to finely categorize data, sending users seeking a needle in the haystack inside a barnful of irrelevant results.
Smarter content management tools can solve these problems, allowing employees to obtain the information they need quickly and work more efficiently.
One of the most important content management tools is metadata. Often referred to as “data about data,” metadata tags attach important information to content, such as creation date, version history, file format, the project name associated with it, and more. By giving documents context, metadata helps to facilitate process automation.
Metadata’s benefits for knowledge workers are enhanced when the information is indexed and organized in alignment with workflows. You can get started with indexing by using file indexing solutions, which scan and catalog documents and other unstructured content to make them searchable through a central, AI-enabled interface.
When backed by an effective metadata and indexing system, AI-enhanced search doesn’t just use keywords, it understands context, allowing employees to search for information in natural language. The result is a better search experience for everyone and heightened productivity across the organization.
In addition to helping knowledge workers find information, metadata tags can help enforce data retention policies, industry-specific compliance frameworks, and your own internal access and governance rules. Establishing standardized metadata tags prevents security and compliance gaps, ensuring that all departments and teams follow the same rules.
Metadata tagging also enables you to streamline archiving and data retention practices. Ensuring disposal of documents at the proper times not only boosts efficiency and improves compliance, but it also lowers storage costs. Compliance automation is especially valuable at auditing time, when data logs prove effortlessly that your controls are being enforced.
You can also automate your own data governance rules and business procedures, like routing and approvals, defining how data is collected, accessed, stored, shared, and secured. In an age of rapid application development and rampant shadow IT, automation and centralization are essential for keeping your information both findable and secure.
Sharing knowledge helps teams absorb new information and make better decisions. When everyone is on the same page, collaboration becomes brainstorming, generating excitement that leads to a fountain of innovative ideas. But when information is trapped in silos, data management becomes a frustrating chore and collaboration bogs down. When employees retire or change jobs, institutional knowledge may be lost forever, causing teams to unknowingly waste time reinventing the wheel instead of building on existing solutions.
That’s why it’s important to integrate collaboration platforms with your content repositories. That way, everyone has secure access to the same up-to-date information. As new knowledge is created through everyday work, it’s stored in the repository and preserved when people leave, providing a continuous, dynamic source of learning. With metadata tagging and indexing in place, that knowledge also becomes easier to find and share across the organization.
Managers should encourage sharing, both leading by example and rewarding employees who contribute valuable information with shout-outs or awards. Creating a culture where information flows freely will make the organization more flexible and adaptable—an important competitive advantage in our time of accelerating change.
The digital deluge shows no signs of stopping, but by organizing information with content management tools, ensuring compliance and security with data governance, and sharing knowledge across silos, you can transform its havoc into a trusted flow of insight and innovation.
Access can help. As a full lifecycle management partner, we provide metadata and indexing solutions that make information easier to find and share, as well as compliance expertise and tools to ensure that governance is not just a theory, but a daily practice.
Isn’t it time to make the digital deluge work for you, instead of against you? Contact us to help you get started today!
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