Four Common Data Challenges and How to Overcome Them

At WIT, we are no strangers to the difficulties that businesses face when trying to gain valuable insights from their data. In today's data-driven world, organizations must overcome numerous challenges to turn raw data into actionable insights that can drive business growth. In this blog post, we will explore some of the most common data challenges that businesses face, including extracting timely data from business systems, integrating data from siloed applications, leveraging data from cloud systems, and managing large volumes of data effectively. 

Difficulty in Extracting Timely Data from Business Systems 

Timely access to data is crucial for businesses to make informed decisions. However, extracting data from various business systems can be a time-consuming and complex process. Here are some ways to address this challenge: 

1. Implement a robust ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) process: An ETL process is essential for extracting data from different sources, transforming it into the desired format, and loading it into a central repository. This process can help ensure that the data is up-to-date and available for analysis.
2. Utilize data integration tools: Various data integration tools are available in the market that can simplify the process of connecting and extracting data from multiple sources. By choosing the right tool, businesses can reduce the time and effort needed for data extraction. Modern tools like Alteryx and Microsoft SSIS, and Informatica can help.

Challenges Related to the Integration of Data from Siloed Applications 

Data silos often result in incomplete or inconsistent data, making it difficult to derive meaningful insights. To overcome this issue, organizations can: 

1. Establish a data governance framework: A data governance framework can help standardize data definitions, set guidelines for data usage, and ensure data consistency across different applications.
2. Create a data lake or data warehouse: A central repository, such as a data lake or data warehouse, can consolidate data from various sources and break down silos. This unified view of data allows businesses to analyze it holistically and gain deeper insights.  Modern tools like Snowflake, Amazon Redshift, Microsoft Azure Synapse, and Google BigQuery can help.

Trouble Leveraging Data from Cloud Systems 

As more businesses adopt cloud-based solutions, it's essential to be able to leverage data from these systems effectively. Here's how organizations can address this challenge: 

1.  Utilize cloud-native data integration tools: Cloud-native integration tools can simplify the process of accessing and processing data from cloud-based systems. These tools are designed to work seamlessly with the cloud infrastructure, making it easier to leverage data from different sources.
2. Implement data security and privacy measures: Ensuring data security and privacy is critical when working with cloud systems. Organizations should establish data encryption protocols, secure access controls, and adhere to relevant data privacy regulations to protect their data in the cloud. Three big cloud players are Amazon’s AWS, Microsoft’s Azure, and Google’s GCP.
   

Too Much Data to Manage Effectively 

With the ever-growing volume of data being generated, businesses often struggle to manage it effectively. To tackle this challenge, consider the following steps: 

1. Implement data storage and archiving strategies: Storing and archiving data strategically can help organizations manage large volumes of data efficiently. This may involve tiered storage, data compression, and deduplication techniques.
2. Adopt data governance: Establish data policies, standards, and procedures to ensure that your data is accurate, consistent, and secure. Some of the modern tools are Alation, Collibra, and Informatica Axon.

Navigating the complex landscape of data challenges can be overwhelming for businesses. However, by implementing the right strategies and tools, organizations can overcome these obstacles and unlock the true potential of their data. At WIT, we are committed to helping businesses tackle these challenges and harness the power of their data to drive growth and success. 

About WIT
WIT is an analytics and automation consulting firm with over 25 years of experience. WIT helps clients build solutions to maximize the value of their data and analytics assets, and automate key business processes. In partnership with elite software companies, WIT’s capabilities span a broad spectrum of business functions and industry verticals. For more information, visit www.witinc.com