What is data?
Data refers to two things. The first, information gathered for referrals or analysis. The second being information that relates to thinking and decision-making processes. For example, a business could include as data the amount of product that they sold per year. This information can then be used for future decisions, like upping advertising of the product if sales are low.
What is data integrity?
Data integrity just means the reliability and quality of the data that you take into account when making business decisions. Since you are taking in this information in making your decision, the information itself needs to be correct.
Data integrity is such a vital concept of running a business yet even senior executives at top level international accounting firms do not have a high level of trust in their company’s data. According to a KPMG study where 2190 senior executives were interviewed, only 35% stated that they have a high level of trust in their data. Additionally, 90% of the 2190 people said that bad data could negatively impact branding and their reputations. From this its safe to say that data integrity is a continuous pursuit to strive for, as even the largest firms with access to the best resources have difficulty with their data integrity. It is not surprising that methods of increasing data integrity are worth millions of dollars, a lack of it can have serious consequences.
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How to ensure data integrity
There are several ways to increase your company’s level of data integrity:
- Routine Checkups: You should have the data frequently checked to ensure that it maintains its accuracy and integrity.
- Management/Delegation: Tasks involving data integrity should be allocated to people to ensure that it gets done.
- Systems and Processes: Data should have a clear flow from where it is inputted into a database to the final data output.
- This is needed because of any changes along the way from input to output that were not intended. By seeing the data change and why it is changing, any errors in the system can be seen and fixed.
- Policies: If you have a data-integrity report policy in place that requires routine check ups to occur, this would increase data integrity.
Threats to data integrity
There are several things that can occur that pose a threat to data integrity. One of these is human error during manual input. Putting in the wrong data at the source could have significant consequences for data integrity. Additionally, it is important to make sure that your systems are safe and protected from malware and cyber attacks. Installing anti-malware software and setting up passwords and permissions goes a long way in protecting your documents. In case of an attack and other threats you should have a routine backup system in place just in case. If looking for ways to strengthen your cyber security, read our quick three minute guide.
Another important consideration if you have multiple departments in your business is to integrate your data systems. If they are disconnected, the chance that you end up with data that is inconsistent and unreliable is much higher.
If you would like for more tips to minimize data integrity risk, click here.
Conclusion
Data integrity is absolutely essential for a business. Data is what business making decisions are based on and if the data itself is wrong then the wrong choice would most likely be taken. It is vital that to keep your data safe and accurate that you put the proper measures in place. These measures include assigning responsibility, conducting routine checkups, and implementing data integrity report policies. To prevent outside threats to integrity you should have the proper cybersecurity protections in place.
