Emily Clarke

What is Data Enablement?

The amount of data companies gather continues to increase, but many don't have the means to harness that data efficiently. Data teams often spend their days performing repetitive tasks that only serve to further silo data resources. That prevents other less-technical stakeholders from taking full advantage of the insights data provides.

Data enablement empowers your team to understand and utilize data to its full potential, regardless of their technical expertise. It's improving data workflows and enhancing processes while providing the tools for teams to discover, document and share knowledge within the organization.

Why You Need It

You may already have tools in place to manage your data. Many organizations have data catalogs to provide information about data assets. These repositories can be beneficial but are not enough to facilitate enablement.

Someone has to maintain catalogs to ensure they stay up to date. That means more resource allocation and wasted time. Furthermore, catalogs only exacerbate accessibility issues. Stakeholders unfamiliar with data processes will likely have to turn to data teams for assistance, creating yet another enablement barrier.

Enablement tools go several steps further than catalogs. These tools automate repetitive work, taking care of crucial management tasks like lineage and cataloging. Not only does that free up time for data teams, but it also creates a single source of truth for your organization. Gone are the days of small changes having monumental upstream and downstream impacts.

The right tools also simplify data access, eliminating the headache of messy and incomplete management processes. Good enablement strategies can centralize data knowledge, creating a more robust repository for internal and external stakeholders. People can search for the data they need without relying on guidance from data teams. Pair that with a detailed data dictionary, and you provide your entire organization with the support they need to take full advantage of all data assets.

Ultimately, enablement is about allowing all stakeholders to use the data your company collects. It removes traditional siloing and frustrating barriers that reduce productivity. By improving how your organization handles, processes and accesses data, you can put those assets to work and boost the bottom line.

Author Resource:-

Emily Clarke writes about the best data catalog tools and data analysis softwares. You can find her thoughts at data discovery blog.