Data may be your most valuable resource. It’s certainly not an endangered one. It pours into organizations from every conceivable source – operational and transactional systems; scanners, sensors and smart meters; inbound and outbound customer contact points; mobile media and the Web.

But what makes data valuable? Its source? Its quantity? Its format? No, the value of data depends on what you do with it. And the first step in unlocking its potential lies in data management. So what do you know about data management? What do you need to know? Browse around and see what the experts are saying about data management.

Is your data easy to access, clean, integrate and store? Do you know which types of data are used by everyone in the organization? And do you have a system in place for analyzing data as it flows into the organization? Brush up on the concepts below to start your data management journey:

• Data access refers to your ability to get to and retrieve information wherever it is stored. Certain technologies can make this step as easy and efficient as possible so you can spend more time using the data – not just trying to find it.
• Data quality is the practice of making sure data is accurate and usable for its intended purpose. This starts from the moment data is accessed and continues through various integration points with other data – and even includes the point before it is published or reported.
• Data integration defines the steps for combining different types of data. Data integration tools help you design and automate the steps that do this work.
• Data federation is a special kind of virtual data integration that allows you to look at combined data from multiple sources without the need to move and store the combined view in a new location.
• Data governance is an ongoing set of rules and decisions for managing your organization’s data to ensure that your data strategy is aligned with your business strategy.
• Master data management (MDM) defines, unifies and manages all of the data that is common and essential to all areas of an organization. This master data is typically managed from a single location or hub.
• Data streaming involves analyzing data as it moves by applying logic to the data, recognizing patterns in the data and filtering it for multiple uses as it flows into your organization.