The pandemic may be reshaping corporate digitalization strategies. However, the pandemic has also significantly accelerated digital transformation, as confirmed by 85% of CEO in Fortune/Deloitte CEO Survey Jan’21.

"We are moving slowly into an era where big data is the starting point, not the end."  - Author and digital visionary Pearl Zhu once

One of the challenges is departments, or individual domains have adopted their own processes and standards for accessing and using the data. Lack of centralized broader governance initiatives could cause high data risk as well as duplication of system, multiple data standards, and inability to monetize the data. This could also risk the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data.

Another challenge is organizing and managing a large amount of unstructured data. It takes significantly more effort as compared to structured data, which is easy to categorize. It is very difficult to quantify the risk related to unstructured data, intern difficult to mitigate.

 Knowing where to start

•  Governance & Compliance – There should a consistent and organizational level data management practices. Data governance and Compliance need to be in place to ensure the implementation. There should be proper training and communication about the importance of data risk management. All regulatory & Compliance data should be tagged as high importance, like customer data for General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or financial firms risk data under BCBS 239.
•  Data Quality Framework & Data Lifecycle – The data quality framework helps to standardize the data attributes and rules. There are 5 important traits of quality of data: accuracy, completeness, reliability, relevance, and timeliness. Understanding of Data lifecycle helps organizations to mitigate Data Risk at all stages.
•  Technology Enhancement – Metadata and repositories should have added attributes to store the data classifications and tags. There should be a proper facility to process unstructured data to avoid any data leakage. Technology advancements are important in terms of securing data from external cyber-attacks, which could cause a major financial and reputational impact on the firm.
•  Process & Data Ownership – Data owners and data risk managers are primary enforcers of standard data governance and management practices. Reviewing data classification and tagging are the key part of their job roles. Every domain/department should have a data officer to ensure data governance and provide reports to a data risk manager.
•  Learning & Development – The cultural shift is required in terms of understanding the value of “Data” and implications of Data Risk. Mandatory training should be introduced around Data Risk and compliance requirements like GDPR. Standardize data handling practices should be promoted across the organization

In the current pandemic situation, where there is a significant increase in the culture of working from home or remotely and a continuous increase in cyber-attacks. Organizations need to start accessing their data management framework and the Data Risk associated with it. Review the current capabilities to mitigate that risk and develop a strategic roadmap in line with the Operational roadmap to implement any advancement to mitigate Data Risk.