Future-Proofing Business Operations with Data Governance Strategies
Ensuring a robust data security and governance framework is not just an option — it’s a critical imperative for future-proofing businesses. Effective data governance allows businesses to comply with regulations and make room for implementing technologies securely.
In Singapore, the recent launch of Smart Nation 2.0 and the upcoming Digital Infrastructure Act set for 2025 highlight the government’s commitment to enhance the resilience of digital infrastructures and services.
As these proactive measures take shape, businesses must re-strategise to balance safeguarding data with fostering innovation and achieving sustainable growth.
The Need for Stringent Data Governance Strategies
Organisations face mounting pressure to protect sensitive information while simultaneously leveraging it for business growth. According to Gartner, the most common data governance issues of business leaders are compliance audits (52%), warnings for non-compliance (40%), and data breaches (37%).
A good governance strategy aids in ensuring that organisations meet compliance and avoid data breaches. Governance includes having a workspace that is free from redundant, outdated, and trivial (ROT) data, and having control over who has access to which data, thereby ensuring compliance and limiting potential data breaches.
However, organisations are facing increasing data volumes. About 64% manage at least 1 PB of data, while 41% have at least 500 PB, according to the AI & Information Management Report. This puts data governance into a growing imperative, but also the volumes that organisations have to manage make it a challenge. Today, only 32% of organisations have a formal governance strategy and 69% have difficulty finding data and analytic content across their environment.
Key Aspects of Data Governance
When compliance is embedded into the development process from the start, teams can move faster with greater confidence. By implementing privacy-by-design principles and automated compliance checks, organisations can reduce the time spent on regulatory reviews while minimising risks.
As part of effective data governance, organisations must have a comprehensive approach that addresses several key areas:
Data quality and integrity. High-quality data is the foundation of effective business operations. Data validation processes that ensure accuracy and consistency across all systems are crucial. This includes implementing automated quality checks and establishing clear data ownership responsibilities throughout the organisation.
Workspace management. One of the first steps to effective governance is having visibility of organisations’ digital workspaces — who can create workspaces, which ones are inactive, and when workspaces should be archived. These steps avoid workspace sprawl that may lead to storing duplicate or unnecessary data in the organisation. By keeping only workspaces that are necessary, organisations can lessen the chances of malicious actors gaining access to data.
Access control and authentication. For workspaces that organisations need to maintain in their system, role-based access control (RBAC) systems must be implemented to ensure that only authorised users access workspaces. Regular access reviews and automated provisioning/de-provisioning processes help maintain the principle of least privilege.
Changing regulatory environments. Organisations should also consider adopting modular governance frameworks that can adapt to new regulations while supporting innovation. This includes creating clear protocols for experimenting with new technologies within controlled environments, such as regulatory sandboxes, where innovative solutions can be tested without compromising compliance requirements.
Transforming Governance into Performance
Viewing data and workspace governance not as a cost center, but as a performance driver can be a game-changing shift in perspective. This transformation requires strategic metrics that tie governance initiatives directly to improvements in the security of digital environments are essential.
Organisations should track exposure and risk measures, and how they improve over time. In addition, to understand the value of data governance investments, organisations must have dashboards that track these improvements and demonstrate the direct link between governance initiatives and business performance — how many links are shared externally, are all these authorised users, who among the workforce has access to most of the organisational workspace, and when all these factors are brought together, what is the overall risk of the organisation?
Similarly, organisations can measure efficiency gains, such as how governance measures – such as provisioning and workspace management – provide cost savings and value.
With proper governance measures, organisations can see their risks lessen over time. Having measures to see this allows businesses to understand the impact of their investments on data governance solutions.
Data governance is the security aspect that balances security with innovation, because with proper governance protocols in place, organisations can leverage new technologies, such as AI, securely.
In fact, the effectiveness of AI hinges on the quality and security of the data it processes. With proper data governance, organisations can better leverage AI through:
Accurate analyses and reports. AI systems thrive on high-quality data. By implementing robust data governance practices, organisations can ensure that their data is accurate, complete, and reliable. This, in turn, enhances the performance of AI models, leading to more accurate and actionable insights.
Data integration and accessibility. Effective data governance facilitates the integration of data from various sources, breaking down silos and making data more accessible for AI applications. This comprehensive data view is essential for training AI models and generating meaningful outcomes.
Compliance and privacy. With stringent data governance, organisations can ensure that their AI initiatives comply with regulatory requirements and privacy standards. Organisations can be assured that no one in the workforce can gain access to unauthorised data, such as salary information or sensitive prototype documents, in generative AI prompts.
AvePoint’s Holistic Data Governance Approach
Organisations have a unique opportunity to reimagine their approach to data security and governance. Those who can successfully integrate these elements into their business strategy while maintaining agility and innovation will be best positioned for success in the digital future.
AvePoint provides a holistic approach to data governance. Through the AvePoint Confidence Platform, organisations can:
Understand risks. Recognising that risks differ among organisations and industries, the Confidence Platform enables administrators to define specific risks for their organisation in accordance with relevant compliance regulations and user access requirements. It monitors potential threats and identifies who has access to sensitive data. Administrators also have access to how risk exposure has improved over time.
Implement governance policies. Establish lifecycle policies for workspaces from inception to decommissioning, to prevent IT sprawl. For existing workspaces, administrators can ensure workspaces have access controls in place – including how to control collaborative workspaces – and that assets have the correct classification, helping avoid data breaches and compliance violations. This also provides workspace administrators with notification of unauthorised access changes and the ability to revert them.
Automate policies. Automate the creation of workspace access policies based on organisational policies and data sensitivity, maintaining security of workspaces without manual intervention. Administrators remain in control with notifications about configuration drifts and security issues.
By viewing data governance as a strategic enabler rather than compliance burden, organisations can build resilient, innovative, and successful businesses in Singapore’s digital future. Begin your journey to a well-governed workspace today.
Phoebe Magdirila is a Senior Content Marketing Specialist at AvePoint, covering SaaS management, backup, and governance. With a decade of technology journalism experience, Phoebe creates content to help businesses accelerate and manage their SaaS journey.
