The growth of the database in a business is one of the main sources of problems. In addition to storage problems, there is the increasingly complicated management, duplicates on different systems and hard disks, and the difficulty of locating, sharing and checking an isolated piece of data.
For any company that takes its internal organization and digital future projection seriously, a Data Management strategy with the right tools is indispensable as part of the overall business strategy.
For any company that takes its internal organization and digital future projection seriously, a Data Management strategy with the right tools is indispensable as part of the overall business strategy.
What is data management
Data Management systems are sophisticated and at the same time very powerful data management tools, capable of ensuring a rigorous storage, synchronization, analysis and distribution of the company's data (from the products or services it sells to information about employees, suppliers, distributors, customers...).
Data Management is a large process in which several tools can be involved, more specialized in product data management, customer base, administrative and financial resources, multimedia archives...
The key to these DM systems is automation, which saves time and costs and eliminates redundancies and errors in the databases, as well as when sending information to other channels or to other people or companies (salespeople, warehouse, vendors, distributors...).
In short, Data Management is a heterogeneous and multiplatform data management process, which involves several tools with different objectives and achieves the central harmony of data in the day-to-day running of a company.
Data Management System functionalities
The best data management programs will not be satisfied with simply offering you a large folder where you can store all your data in an unordered and disorganized way. This is much more than a Dropbox.
The management tools also integrate with the company's other software programs and include data and omission analysis functions, monitoring the use of each file and updating other applications and linked platforms.
Due to the enormous effort involved in digitally managing all of a company's data, data management systems are indispensable tools for saving time, getting more out of all of the company's resources and streamlining processes:
They handle any volume. No matter how large a database grows, data management systems can easily handle unlimited amounts of data and fields.
Facilitate global work. Any user with permission can access data management tools from any device and any location, and continue to do their work in any circumstance and any country. This functionality of data management programs in the cloud fits perfectly with the needs of remote and remote work and to synchronize equipment and information in several countries.
They eliminate redundancies and data omissions. These errors were very difficult to detect by hand, but with automated data management tools the level of content accuracy is close to 100%.
They guarantee a high level of security, efficiency and privacy, basic to leave in the hands of a tool all the company's information. In addition, they include backup generation, change history and past data recovery options.
Save storage. Thousands of Excel files, photographs in different formats and Words with translations are the chaos of any company. Any data management system saves space, since they include their own storage system (much better if it is in the cloud) and also the cost of paying for accounts such as Dropbox.
They optimize access to data. And teams save a lot of time locating specific and always correct data, incorporating them into the central database and exporting them to any format to share with third parties, in other digital channels or in marketing strategies.
Disadvantages
Sometimes, data management tools that incorporate many functions are oriented to an enterprise level company profile, and this implies a very high cost.
In addition, the process of implementing data management tools in a company is delicate and requires specialized personnel and training of employees and teams.
After all, with any data management program, new working methods will be introduced that everyone must be familiar with, and a period of adaptation and testing is required, depending on the complexity of the company's data structure. It also takes time to manage all permissions and accesses, and to activate the new security and data management protocols.
The good news is that there are more and more types of data management tools in the cloud, agile and with an easy onboarding process for the company, with technical support included, and that can reduce installation times to a few weeks.
Types of data management tools
Determined to test the power of a DM? These are the most popular and useful Data Management tools for companies that want to make the leap to digitization:
Product Information Management (PIM)
This is the ultimate tool for manufacturers and retailers who want a centralized control platform for all their product content.
A PIM or Product Information Management system is dedicated to managing, correcting and sending automated and synchronized product information to all sales channels, catalog design programs or agents such as retailers and sales reps.
And this is what we do at Sales Layer: discover its advantages to clear all your doubts about the best data management your company needs.
Master Data Management (MDM)
These are tools that manage a company's master and central data, such as business, employees, customers, accounts, operations and regulations. These programs include data cleansing, centralization, key mapping, transaction control, multi-domain support, information distribution and global synchronization in different locations. Examples include Oracle or IBM InfoSphere MDM.
Data Modeling
This is the process that adapts the data to the format needed to be stored in the company's database. The types of data management tools in this category allow you to generate conceptual models and establish the consistency and quality rules that the data must comply with.
Data Warehouse (DW)
These are programs dedicated to generating warehouses for data, and therefore are usually linked to hardware available in the company and do not include specialized management processes by type of data. They are storage tools, but by themselves they do not provide an intelligent structure and analysis of the information.
Other processes that may have their own tools include data quality analysis, metadata, data architecture, security and storage.
A further aspect is that data management tools can organize data according to different criteria, such as a relational model, hierarchical (in tree format) or as a network.
This protocol will influence the type of DM you need; for example, in product data management, relational databases are useful for linking dependent information fields such as model, size and color.
Conclusion
Brands like IBM sound like big words and big money. But there are tools on the market adapted to any company profile, and scalable data management systems that adapt to the data volume and needs of small, medium and large companies.
Having a centralized and automated database is the basic objective of any company that is starting to grow or has consolidated. And to achieve this, you don't need a large number of tools. Depending on your business needs, you can access all the functions you are looking for from a single platform.
Sales Layer PIM combines data centralization, external channel networking, data quality analysis and unlimited cloud storage. It is the data management control center for manufacturers and retailers: try it for 30 days free with your own product catalog and digitize the future of your company.
Data Management systems are sophisticated and at the same time very powerful data management tools, capable of ensuring a rigorous storage, synchronization, analysis and distribution of the company's data (from the products or services it sells to information about employees, suppliers, distributors, customers...).
Data Management is a large process in which several tools can be involved, more specialized in product data management, customer base, administrative and financial resources, multimedia archives...
The key to these DM systems is automation, which saves time and costs and eliminates redundancies and errors in the databases, as well as when sending information to other channels or to other people or companies (salespeople, warehouse, vendors, distributors...).
In short, Data Management is a heterogeneous and multiplatform data management process, which involves several tools with different objectives and achieves the central harmony of data in the day-to-day running of a company.
Data Management System functionalities
The best data management programs will not be satisfied with simply offering you a large folder where you can store all your data in an unordered and disorganized way. This is much more than a Dropbox.
The management tools also integrate with the company's other software programs and include data and omission analysis functions, monitoring the use of each file and updating other applications and linked platforms.
Due to the enormous effort involved in digitally managing all of a company's data, data management systems are indispensable tools for saving time, getting more out of all of the company's resources and streamlining processes:
They handle any volume. No matter how large a database grows, data management systems can easily handle unlimited amounts of data and fields.
Facilitate global work. Any user with permission can access data management tools from any device and any location, and continue to do their work in any circumstance and any country. This functionality of data management programs in the cloud fits perfectly with the needs of remote and remote work and to synchronize equipment and information in several countries.
They eliminate redundancies and data omissions. These errors were very difficult to detect by hand, but with automated data management tools the level of content accuracy is close to 100%.
They guarantee a high level of security, efficiency and privacy, basic to leave in the hands of a tool all the company's information. In addition, they include backup generation, change history and past data recovery options.
Save storage. Thousands of Excel files, photographs in different formats and Words with translations are the chaos of any company. Any data management system saves space, since they include their own storage system (much better if it is in the cloud) and also the cost of paying for accounts such as Dropbox.
They optimize access to data. And teams save a lot of time locating specific and always correct data, incorporating them into the central database and exporting them to any format to share with third parties, in other digital channels or in marketing strategies.
Disadvantages
Sometimes, data management tools that incorporate many functions are oriented to an enterprise level company profile, and this implies a very high cost.
In addition, the process of implementing data management tools in a company is delicate and requires specialized personnel and training of employees and teams.
After all, with any data management program, new working methods will be introduced that everyone must be familiar with, and a period of adaptation and testing is required, depending on the complexity of the company's data structure. It also takes time to manage all permissions and accesses, and to activate the new security and data management protocols.
The good news is that there are more and more types of data management tools in the cloud, agile and with an easy onboarding process for the company, with technical support included, and that can reduce installation times to a few weeks.
Types of data management tools
Determined to test the power of a DM? These are the most popular and useful Data Management tools for companies that want to make the leap to digitization:
Product Information Management (PIM)
This is the ultimate tool for manufacturers and retailers who want a centralized control platform for all their product content.
A PIM or Product Information Management system is dedicated to managing, correcting and sending automated and synchronized product information to all sales channels, catalog design programs or agents such as retailers and sales reps.
And this is what we do at Sales Layer: discover its advantages to clear all your doubts about the best data management your company needs.
Master Data Management (MDM)
These are tools that manage a company's master and central data, such as business, employees, customers, accounts, operations and regulations. These programs include data cleansing, centralization, key mapping, transaction control, multi-domain support, information distribution and global synchronization in different locations. Examples include Oracle or IBM InfoSphere MDM.
Data Modeling
This is the process that adapts the data to the format needed to be stored in the company's database. The types of data management tools in this category allow you to generate conceptual models and establish the consistency and quality rules that the data must comply with.
Data Warehouse (DW)
These are programs dedicated to generating warehouses for data, and therefore are usually linked to hardware available in the company and do not include specialized management processes by type of data. They are storage tools, but by themselves they do not provide an intelligent structure and analysis of the information.
Other processes that may have their own tools include data quality analysis, metadata, data architecture, security and storage.
A further aspect is that data management tools can organize data according to different criteria, such as a relational model, hierarchical (in tree format) or as a network.
This protocol will influence the type of DM you need; for example, in product data management, relational databases are useful for linking dependent information fields such as model, size and color.
Conclusion
Brands like IBM sound like big words and big money. But there are tools on the market adapted to any company profile, and scalable data management systems that adapt to the data volume and needs of small, medium and large companies.
Having a centralized and automated database is the basic objective of any company that is starting to grow or has consolidated. And to achieve this, you don't need a large number of tools. Depending on your business needs, you can access all the functions you are looking for from a single platform.
Sales Layer PIM combines data centralization, external channel networking, data quality analysis and unlimited cloud storage. It is the data management control center for manufacturers and retailers: try it for 30 days free with your own product catalog and digitize the future of your company.