Data visibility - what it is and why you need it

When the amount of data being collected by businesses was small enough to store locally, in-house, the days when a team of humans can manually keep track of everything is now a memory of the distant past. Today, with businesses collecting and processing ever-growing amounts and types of data — not to mention the advent of cloud data storage — data monitoring, analyzing, and displaying has become a significant issue. 

Hence the need for data visibility.

What is data visibility?

Data visibility is the ability to access and view data in real-time. It’s an essential functionality for businesses looking to effectively manage and analyze their data — particularly businesses moving off on-prem data centers to the cloud — as it allows you to make informed decisions and track the performance of your business operations, identify risks connected to security breaches involving sensitive data, and optimize data environment performance.

Why is data visibility important?

The chief reason data visibility is important for businesses is that it allows organizations to track key metrics and measure the effectiveness of their operations in real-time. 

This live insight into their data helps businesses identify areas for improvement and optimize workflows to increase efficiency. Data visibility is also important for improving user experience and streamlining business processes. By providing easy access to data, businesses reduce the time and effort required to complete complex initiatives, make relevant data easier to find and use, and consequently help data users across the business make more efficient, more logical data-driven decisions.

Data visibility challenges

Of course, in an era when the business world is producing 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day, a challenge of data visibility is managing the massive volumes of data being generated. This problem can be exacerbated within organizations that use multiple data sources across numerous silos — including SaaS businesses —or have a complex supply chain. 

Additionally, managing data visibility can be a challenge when dealing with sensitive personal data, such as financial information or healthcare records. In these cases, it’s important for businesses to implement strong data protection measures to ensure information security, and confirm that only authorized users have access to the data and the appropriate data permissions.

Data visibility tools

One of the most important keys to improving data visibility is the implementation of robust data management systems, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems or data loss prevention (DLP) tools. These systems help businesses organize, store, and access their data in a secure and efficient manner. It’s also important to establish clear policies and procedures for data access and use, and to ensure that all employees are trained on these protocols.

There are also a number of tools and technologies available that can help businesses improve data visibility. For example, data visualization tools, such as dashboards and charts, can help businesses clearly and effectively communicate data insights to business stakeholders and decision-makers. Additionally, data analytics tools can help businesses mine their data for insights and identify trends and patterns. Some businesses also use automation and automated processes and data classification systems to streamline data management and improve data visibility.

Additionally, incorporating a reliable data backup solution for virtualized environments, such as backup for VMWare or Proxmox VE backup, can further safeguard data by providing an additional layer of security and ensuring data recovery in case of unforeseen issues.

By providing real-time access to data, data visibility provides significant business value as a function that empowers businesses to improve the efficiency of their operations, reduce waste, enhance the user experience, improve data security, and make intelligent, data-driven decisions.

Get a demo to learn more about how data.world’s knowledge-graph-powered data catalog can enable data visibility and data discovery at your organization.