Today, data is omnipresent. Irrespective of the small business industry vertical, it is essential for a business to come up with ways to utilize data for improving business processes. It is imperative to know about the best practices for data management. Additionally, companies should have an effortless data analysis and have robust encryption to secure sensitive customer data. 

Do you want to leverage your business data? If yes, Eric Dalius highlights the best practices for data management.

1. Compliance

Small business owners should stay aware of data regulations and rules. It is essential to stay updated with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) guidelines and various other compliance needs relevant to your industry. You can keep a tab on the GDPR checklist and assess whether your business needs any upgrade.

2. Data visualization

It is essential to make the data report informative, interactive, and engaging using data visualization tools. It helps to analyze data, generates striking visuals, and gain insights from the outcome.

3. Pay attention to data security

It is essential to secure data, physically and virtually. Data encryption is critical as it will prevent data from getting hacked. Small business owners should invest in high-end security, such as authentication, firewalls, security training, and anti-virus software.

4. Have a backup for everything

Eric J Dalius suggests companies should secure against any data loss using advanced backup solutions. It is essential to consider:

• Keep data back up in the cloud.
• Store data in a USB drive.
• Save data on the NAS (network-attached storage)
• Save data on an external hard drive.

5. Fix a data recovery solution

Advanced data security policies can get prone to data thefts and attacks. Business owners need to set up a data recovery program. The program must include the following:

• People accountable for data recovery.
• A data recovery strategy.
• A recovery timeline.
• Is it necessary to get connected with an IT partner for assistance?

6. Standardize the data entry rules

Minute errors can result in data management issues. Hence, it is crucial to create a data entry process in the organization. Train every member close to the data so that they don't fall prey to phishing and malware attacks.

7. Create a maintenance routine

According to EJ Dalius, daily maintenance is an idle way to ensure that your data doesn't have errors. Usually, business databases get decayed 40% annually. Hence, you need to ensure that you devote time to clean the data to secure and correct it.

8. Data accessibility

It would be best if you didn't allow your data to get overlooked by making it inaccessible. Though providing access to everyone is not essential, you can assess the requirements and decide on data access points. It will ensure that your data doesn't get destroyed.

In terms of business data, small business owners are trying to secure it as much as possible. Today, marketing experts refer to data as an essential aspect of big data that can help a company progress manifold. However,  companies should not rush in the process of data management. Instead, small business owners can benefit from following the practices mentioned above.