A data lake is an environment where a vast amount of data, of various types and structures, can be ingested, stored, assessed, and analyzed. Data lake technologies can scale to massive volumes of data, and combining datasets is easy with data stored in a relatively raw form. A data lake architecture can centralize data over distributed storage, providing a scalable, […]
Databases vs. Hadoop vs. Cloud Storage
How can an organization thrive in the 2020s, a changing and confusing time with significant Data Management demands and platform options such as data warehouses, Hadoop, and the cloud? Trying to save money by bandaging and using the same old Data Architecture ends up pushing data uphill, making it harder to use. Rethinking data usage, storage, and computation is […]
How to Influence Data Quality Through Data Stewardship
To get value from data, data stewards must understand business requirements and apply them. When business ambiguity arises about best serving data stakeholders, data stewards need to know how to find out this information and with whom to speak. Then these data trustees influence Data Quality for the better by aligning fit for purpose with business needs. Data stewards […]
Expanding Data Governance into the Future
Shortened time frames to leverage business insights and navigate data privacy and ethics call for the next generation of Data Governance (DG). This DG describes a collaborative, thoughtful, long-term framework consisting of processes managing trusted data assets across the organization. Kelle O’Neal, Founder, and CEO of First San Francisco Partners, sees a need to make firms […]
What Is Database Management?
Database Management allows a person to organize, store, and retrieve data from a computer. Database Management can also describe the data storage, operations, and security practices of a database administrator (DBA) throughout the life cycle of the data. Managing a database involves designing, implementing, and supporting stored data to maximize its value. Database Management Systems, […]
What Is Data Literacy?
Data literacy describes the ability to read, work with, analyze, and argue with data, according to Raul Bhargava and Catherine D’ignazio from MIT and Emerson College. Easy access to data sets is essential to exercise these skills. All employees in an organization involved with data-driven decisions should learn to think critically about the data they […]
Case Study: Jerry’s Foods Improves In-Store Data Infrastructure
The ability for people to be able to buy food and essential supplies, in-store IT and data infrastructure must be kept running. Jeff Miller, Director of IT at Jerry’s Foods, a national chain with fifty grocery, retail, hardware, and liquor stores, knows this reality very well. Miller explains that each Jerry’s Foods franchise includes many […]
Updating Data Governance: Set Up a Cohesive Plan First
Enterprises are taking Data Governance—planning and programming to control and secure data—more seriously. In a recent DATAVERSITY® Trends in Data Management Report, 76 percent of organizations have a Data Governance program in place or such a plan for the future. This makes sense as companies focus more on security and business growth. Data breaches have […]
What Is a Data Container?
A data container is a transportation solution for a database required to run from one computer system to another. A data container is a data structure that “stores and organizes virtual objects (a virtual object is a self-contained entity that consists of both data and procedures to manipulate the data).” This is similar to the packaging of a […]
Data Warehouse vs. Data Lake Technology: Different Approaches to Managing Data
Solving business problems using big data depends upon the approach taken. For example, if an organization only knows data warehouses, then challenges will be framed to fit using a data warehouse. As Abraham Maslow, a prominent psychologist eloquently said “I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat […]