Canadian Government Executive - Volume 26 - Issue 02

March/April 2020 // Canadian Government Executive / 11 Technology achieve compliance and efficiencies. As you look to maximize the value data analytics provide in your overall manage- ment strategy, here are three tips to keep in mind: • All in one - Consider data manage- ment solutions that include built-in data analytics: Data management solu- tions help users gain insights from mas- sive stores of data, and are often closely linked to a specific type of data, ensuring data is available and recoverable. Data analytics embedded into a data manage- ment solution delivers better analysis because it is able to develop a deeper understanding of the type of data and its context. Data analytics products bolted onto data management platforms add complexity and require additional skills to manage. Attaching a separate data analytics capability can increase the risk of configuration incompatibility as business processes change or scale. Ad- ditionally, a stand-alone data analytics tool might not be updated on the same schedule as the core data management solution, requiring additional integra- tion when the products are updated. • From the beginning - Use data ana- lytics at the start of data manage- ment processes and initiatives: Given the benefits and outcomes, data analytics should be a key component of an organi- zation’s overall data management strat- egy from the start. By integrating data analytics from the outset, agencies will ensure early lessons learned from col- lecting, migrating or otherwise manag- ing the data are captured in an iterative manner, providing them with actionable insights. A great example of the value of embed- ded data analytics is cloud migration. By analyzing their data as part of the migra- tion process, agencies can look at the age of data, the program or department it is tied to and the core organization process it relates to. Tags and indexes can cap- ture each of these characteristics or ele- ments, identifying data that can be delet- ed before the migration and categorizing the rest so it can be easily retrieved post- migration. Embedded data analytics also ensures the cloud service delivers the performance agency requires. By having analytics embedded from the start, agencies will be able to see how their data is likely to grow in the future so they can ensure their new cloud ser- vice will support additional growth. • Focus on results - Ensure data ana- lytics insights are clear, relevant, and actionable: The best data analytics technology in the world is of no value if it is not providing clear, relevant and actionable insights to organizational leaders. Real time use of data analytics gives decision-makers a continual feed- back mechanism so they know they are analyzing appropriate data, in the right way. Insights from this analysis can be presented in a way decision-makers can quickly understand and, more impor- tantly, act on. In some cases, this feed- back will result in changes in the data- sets being analyzed or changes in the insights requested. As long as an agency’s data management solution offers analysis capabilities that are flexible and configurable, and de- cision-makers have decided how they will use analytics to generate and pres- ent insights, the agency will be able to make its data analytics resilient, provid- ing valuable insights not just to decision- makers today, but also to tomorrow’s leaders facing different challenges and opportunities. In order to best set themselves up for success, agencies should be using data management solutions with embedded analytics at the beginning of all data man- agement initiatives. It’s also important to work closely with all decision-makers in- volved, ensuring analysis insights from the data are clear, relevant and actionable. Data analytics strengthens data manage- ment strategies in ways that help agencies achieve their goals and ultimately help them to better serve Canadians. Matt Tyrer is the Ottawa-based Senior Manager, Solutions Marketing for the Americas for data protection leader Commvault. Matt is an IT industry vet- eran with nearly 20 years of experience, including the past 12 with Commvault. He has worked with teams from around the world to build and implement intel- ligent data management and protection solutions for customers of all sizes and industries. ad_shure_MXC_CGE.qxp_Layout 1 2019-08-06 2:4