The key data architecture principles to follow.
What you need to know about building a modern data architecture for your business.
Data architecture can be understood as a set of rules around data gathering, data storage, and data management. It’s like the policy that helps all business users to understand the types of data that a company collects and uses and why. Data architecture best practices help to establish standards around the collection and use of data from all points around an organization. Here are some basics to understand around data architecture, as well as essential steps for modern data architecture.
Important Data Architecture Components
At its core, data architecture helps businesses analyze and interpret their data more effectively. It’s important to consider several things when building a data architecture solution for your business. The most important pieces or components of a data architecture design include:
- Designated data access: IT doesn’t need to control all data but can manage users to access the data that’s relevant to them.
- No training necessary: Related to access, data architecture needs to allow data usage without the need for specialized training by non-IT departments.
- Ability to scale: As organizations add more users, collect more data, and access varying data types, a good data architecture solution will be able to handle growth.
How to Build the Best Data Architecture for your Business
- Prioritize quality: When it comes to writing rules for data, make sure that there is structure in place to verify that the highest-quality, most valuable data is both analyzed and available.
- Consult all users: Because data is used at all levels of business by all departments, make sure to include users from all over the business – not just IT – to create a solid data architecture design that works for everyone.
- Embrace flexibility: You already know the amount of data users and kinds and amount of data will grow, and your data solution needs to be able to handle that, so build data architecture that can handle change.
- Data architecture and the cloud: Modern cloud data architecture is an important thing to consider in an age of mobile and wireless devices and enhanced data storage and security. While the cloud was not always a part of the data architecture planning process, it has become an important consideration in modern data architecture. Finding or building a data architecture solution that can handle any current cloud data storage access, as well as access from mobile devices, is increasingly important.
Modern data architecture is essential for collecting, managing, and storing all kinds of data across an organization. Since data is the foundation for all kinds of business decisions from budgets to inventory to large-scale marketing campaigns to product launches and even business acquisitions, having a comprehensive set of rules and regulations surrounding data usage in the form of data architecture is crucial. Data architecture can change your business, making data less of an abstract and more of a service or commodity available to you and your employees.
Would you add anything to this list of essential steps for modern data architecture? Has building data architecture been important for your organization?
