Data Security and Governance – not the lockdown businesses expect it to be

Data Security and Governance – not the lockdown businesses expect it to be

The current economic climate has meant a sudden and seismic step-change in how many of our customers operate. The recent shift to remote working has seen an increase in conversations around how data is managed, with many businesses needing to achieve democratic data access in order to derive value and improve efficiencies as we navigate the ‘new norm’.  Toolsets and strategies have had to shift to ensure controlled access to data. At the same time, the need to have a strong layer of security and governance, to ensure protocols don’t slip, is being highlighted. This makes the Data Security and Governance category at the Data Impact Awards a critical one to keep an eye on.  Whilst prominent now, it looks set to increase in importance in the years to come.

What we can see from the submissions received this year, is that the businesses that have that layer of security and governance already embedded, are the ones that are able to innovate and react to change — fast. Having that base layer of security already woven throughout their data and analytics lifecycle has saved many organizations, no matter what industry they operate in, who have been faced with changes in regulations linked to data access and use. This is especially true for organizations that operate multi-nationally, who have also found themselves subject to multiple regional and national data privacy regulations, from GDPR to CCPA, and need to remain compliant. 

The difference in 2020, is that security and governance shouldn’t be synonymous with red tape and locking down of access. The right set of tools can free organizations up to focus on utilizing their data to form valuable insights, rather than spending time trying to retrofit that layer of security, in order to meet the changing requirements. Those organizations that are ‘winning’ here, are those that are using Cloudera’s platform in an innovative way in order to garner valuable insight, but are doing so with complete awareness and consciousness that you need to have security as standard, in order to react to change in a safe and compliant way. This is why the Data Security and Governance category is such an important one to recognize.

To succeed, it is simple — you need to bake security and governance into your data projects from the start. By doing so, organizations can see numerous benefits. An organization that did just that was last year’s winner of the Data Security and Governance category, Bank Rakyat Indonesia. Striving to enhance the security of its operation and services, the team developed a real-time fraud detection system, which took the processes of detecting and flagging fraud from anywhere between two weeks and two months, to doing so instantaneously. To find out more about its BRIFORCE fraud detection platform, and how it used AI and ML to power solutions that enhanced it’s data security and governance while delivering a delightful customer experience, check out the BRI success story here.

Judging last year’s category was no easy feat, with finalists in the Data Security and Governance category including:

  • Liberty Global — Its platform handles PII data and therefore needs to be protected and monitored to comply with GDPR regulations. With the Cloudera Big Data Hybrid Platform, the entire deployment including data at rest and in motion is fully compliant. 
  • RingCentral — the cloud communications provider was able to use Cloudera to analyze calls in real-time and eliminate fraud on their network
  • PNC ACC – Analytics Competency Center — who used Cloudera to improve its legacy systems/processes, which helped detect fraud and improve customer experience

All of the finalists had two commonalities in how they used Cloudera — even though they sit across different industries. This was that they looked at security and governance from a data and analytics perspective inside their organization and then translated those findings in order to create external benefits. Whilst they may have initially used the security and governance element for one thing, like fraud detection, they were then able to reap other benefits from it, like being able to monetize data flows and quickly meeting to regulatory compliance needs.

When it comes to this year’s Data Impact Awards, we’re keen to see organizations that, through being dynamic and innovative with their approach to data security and governance, have found more opportunities. Often security and governance is seen as locking down and preventing bad actors, and with this wall-to-wall control, employees believe they are too constricted to move — this is a huge misconception! You can be secure and compliant AND give people access to the data they need. We want to see organizations that have struck that balance and the realization that safety and compliance, and self-service democtratic data access can go hand in hand.  

This year has seen security and governance become more important than ever, and it really is fantastic to see so many customers not only using Cloudera to address compliance and data access challenges but as a result, using it to drive the business forward. We can’t wait to see who wins, as the competition is tough! Good luck to everyone who entered! 

For more on past winners and finalists, or to garner inspiration if you’re thinking of entering next year’s awards — which we’re sure will be the height of innovation, given all the goings-on of 2020 — visit the archive site. And keep an eye on this year’s awards at www.cloudera.com/DIA.

Wim Stoop
Director Product Marketing
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