Outsourcing is one of the smartest ways to increase capacity, improve expertise or add skilled resources without going through the lengthy process of hiring and retaining talent. Plus, businesses can leverage it to engage highly skilled and experienced talent on demand and as per their specific requirements. Such an advantage can be particularly helpful to startups and small businesses where budget can be a barrier to talent accessibility and they want to focus on their core competencies.

When it comes to critical processes supporting the core business functions, such as data management, the role of outsourced data management services becomes all the more vital. Such services allow businesses to hire experts who deeply understand the nuances of handling data without compromising on its quality, accuracy, and relevance. This requirement is far more mission-critical for modern day internet businesses that work with data day in and day out based on their digital-heavy business models.

 

With data growing at an exponential rate – growing to the tune of 328.77 million terabytes per day according to some sources – data management service providers are all set to be the heroes that will help internet businesses remain profitable and sustainable.

Why Outsource Data Management Services?

Traditionally, businesses have resorted to managing their data in-house. However, it has always been a costly exercise as maintaining an IT team and the supporting infrastructure is not cheap. Keeping the team on the company’s payroll and retainer regardless of whether their services are required adds to the accruing costs. Plus, there is a trade-off in scalability and flexibility as these teams cannot effectively adapt to changing data requirements.

Against this backdrop, outsourcing data management services can be a cost-effective and strategic alternative due to the following reasons:

• Specialized experience and Access to Necessary Tools: When working with reputed and established data management service providers, you can be sure that your data will be in the hands of seasoned experts who know everything about data architecture, analytics, and security. Knowing that your data is in good and capable hands is a great source of relief and reassurance. In addition to this, the data management service providers have access to certain proprietary or 3^rdparty tools to process the data in a much more efficient way.
• Affordability: As mentioned, maintaining an in-house IT team on the side can be a costly affair. In contrast, outsourcing eliminates all the heavy capital investment that goes into hiring and retaining talent, digital infrastructure, data management software solutions, etc. With outsourcing, you can opt for the pay-as-you-go model that distributes costs proportionately.
• Scalability: We’ve also talked about how outsourcing enterprise data management services lends scalability and flexibility to this mission-critical business activity. You can choose to scale up or scale down depending on the market conditions, changing priorities, and business requirements. Such agility makes your internet business highly adaptive and responsive – the qualities of a successful venture!

Factors to Bear in Mind While Outsourcing Data Management Services

While the idea of outsourcing data management services can be freeing, one has to be mindful and vigilant while partnering with the right data management service providers. To help you make a well-informed decision, keep the following considerations in mind while making your decision:

Robust Data Security and Privacy

Data is an invaluable asset – even more so in the case of internet businesses where every bit of data is private, sensitive, or confidential. As such, data management consulting services should adhere to the highest data security and privacy standards to ensure data sanctity. The vendor must offer robust data security measures like access controls, encryption control, versioning, etc. Additionally, they should follow practices that are compliant with rigorous data protection regulations like the GDPR or CCPA, along with timely security audits.

Such data security and privacy measures safeguard your data at all times.

Strong Brand Reputation and Quality of Service

Conduct a thorough background check on the data management service provider to ascertain their capabilities. Research their reputation online and ask for their portfolio to get an idea of their track record with internet businesses. Explore the various services they have to offer, including data cleansing, data analysis, data integration, data migration, etc., and identify those that match your requirements. You can even check out customer testimonials and industry certifications to get an idea of their competence and reliability.

Focus on Data Governance and Quality

While outsourcing data management services, familiarize yourself with the vendor’s data governance and quality objectives. It will shed light on issues related to data ownership, data classification, quality assurance, data cleansing and validation, and enrichment. Doing so ensures the integrity of your data while making sure it is accurate, consistent, complete, reliable, and exploitable. Effective data governance and quality allow internet businesses to extract maximum value from the available data reserves throughout its lifecycle.

Complete Disaster Preparedness and Recovery

Internet businesses looking to outsource data management consulting services must prioritize disaster preparedness and recovery. It ensures that the outsourcing partner has sufficient plans and procedures in place to conserve your data in case of an unfortunate event when disaster strikes. Disaster preparedness would primarily revolve around risk mitigation that prevents and minimizes the possibility of a disaster. On the other hand, disaster recovery would be a curative measure aimed at containing the impact of a disaster.

Conclusion

To summarize, outsourcing data management services can be beneficial to Internet businesses looking to harness the true power and potential of data. It enhances the value offering of data to drive growth and innovation and grants the business a competitive advantage.

While the benefits of outsourcing data management consulting services are many, one must be intentional about this decision. Careful consideration of factors like security, compliance, governance, quality, disaster preparedness, and recovery make the partnership highly advantageous. Once you iron out these factors, it will be easier for your internet business to grow at an accelerated rate!