How Data Governance is like a New Year’s Resolution

Now that we’re officially in 2025, it’s the perfect time for business leaders and IT decision-makers to discuss their data governance practices. Why? Because in a lot of ways, data governance is like making that perpetual new year’s resolution to lose weight:

• Everyone knows the benefits of achieving it are strategic and long lasting
• Everyone knows the process of attaining that achievement is painful
• We put it off until the last minute (or make an excuse and don’t do it at all)

Although many of us resolve to quickly lose weight in January with an overpriced exercise machine or a soul-crushing fad diet we never continue for more than a few weeks, we all know the healthiest approach for losing weight is to eat nutritious foods, control portions, and exercise regularly throughout the year. The same principle applies to corporate data governance.

Rushing to implement data governance activities at the start or end of the year for compliance purposes can be detrimental to your company’s health. Instead, adopting a consistent and strategic approach throughout the year will yield better results. Here are five “healthy” ways to conduct data governance in your organization:

1. Adopt Industry-Standard Frameworks

Implementing established data governance frameworks such as the Data Management Body of Knowledge (DMBOK), Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies (COBIT), and the NIST Data Governance and Management (DGM) Profile can provide a solid foundation for your data governance strategy. While all of these data governance frameworks offer best practices and guidelines to help your organizational data quality, integrity, and security, each one has their own strengths and weaknesses:

Framework	Strengths	Weaknesses
Data Management Body of Knowledge (DMBOK)	Comprehensive coverage of data management practices; widely recognized; provides a common vocabulary for data management professionals.	Can be complex and overwhelming for beginners; requires significant time and resources to implement fully.
Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies (COBIT)	Strong focus on IT governance and management; integrates well with other frameworks; provides detailed guidance on control objectives and processes.	Primarily IT-focused, may not cover all aspects of data governance; can be seen as too rigid and prescriptive.
NIST Data Governance and Management (DGM) Profile	Emphasizes security and risk management; aligns with federal standards; provides a structured approach to data governance.	May be too focused on security for some organizations; can be resource-intensive to implement.

2. Enhance Data Quality and Integrity

No matter what type of business you’re in, the importance of data security cannot be overstated, especially with the increasing number of ransomware attacks. Ransomware remains a significant threat, with many organizations struggling to recover compromised data and facing substantial financial and operational impacts. At Blue Mantis, we prioritize data security through a multi-faceted approach:

• Ransomware Attack Response & Remediation: We provide specialized support to quickly respond to and recover from ransomware attacks, minimizing their impact on your operations.
• Incident Response Planning & Crisis Communications: Our comprehensive incident response plans and crisis communications ensure that your organization is prepared to manage and mitigate the effects of a security breach.
• Digital Forensics & Threat Hunting: We investigate and understand security incidents with deep system visibility, applying these insights to prevent future breaches.
• Endpoint Security Solutions: Blue Mantis endpoint security solutions use advanced artificial intelligence (AI) systems to detect and block ransomware attacks, ensuring your IT environment remains secure.
• Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BC/DR): We implement robust plans that ensure your business can continue operating smoothly in the face of disruptions, safeguarding your data and maintaining high availability.

3. Implement Proactive Problem Management

Proactively addressing and preventing issues related to security, performance, and availability is crucial for maintaining a healthy data governance environment. Blue Mantis offers valuable services through our Managed Services practice to help IT leaders with vulnerability management activities:

• Vulnerability Management as a Service: Our comprehensive service streamlines the management of vulnerabilities by offering robust scanning, identification, and prioritization of potential threats delivered as a managed service. Built on an industry-leading cloud security platform, this turnkey solution provides expert guidance to find and fix vulnerabilities affecting assets in the cloud, on-premises, and across network endpoints.
• 24/7 Remote Monitoring: We provide continuous monitoring of hardware, OS, service, and network performance, ensuring that any issues are detected and addressed promptly.
• Proactive Alert Validation and Triage: Our team validates and triages alerts triggered by monitoring systems, ensuring that potential threats are addressed before they escalate.
• Patch Management: We manage operating system patches to ensure that your systems are up-to-date and protected against known vulnerabilities.
• Advanced Troubleshooting and Remediation: Our experts provide advanced troubleshooting and full remediation services to resolve complex issues and maintain the integrity of your IT environment.

4. Streamline Capacity Planning and Cost Management

Optimizing existing storage investments for enhanced performance, capacity, and security is essential. Blue Mantis brings together expertise from our Cloud, Cybersecurity, Datacenter Modernization, Networking, and Managed Services practices to assess, modernize, and manage your organization’s storage investments. Our approach includes:

• Comprehensive Assessment: We evaluate your current storage infrastructure to identify areas for improvement and optimization. This assessment covers performance, capacity, security, and cost management. Blue Mantis can also run a trial of our FinOps solutions during the assessment to show how your organization’s overall cloud spending—even beyond what’s being used for data management and governance—can be reduced by 30% or more.
• Modernization Solutions: Leveraging our deep expertise in designing and deploying on-premises, multi-cloud, and hybrid architectures, we help you implement modernized storage solutions that are secure, scalable, and high-performing.
• Integrated Management: Our Managed Services experts ensure that your storage solutions are continuously monitored, maintained, and optimized. We provide proactive problem management, capacity planning, and cost management to ensure that your storage investments deliver maximum value.
• Security and Compliance: Every solution we design and deploy is built for security based on the zero-trust framework. This ensures that your storage infrastructure is protected against threats and compliant with industry standards and regulations.

5. Ensure Regulatory Compliance

Avoid regulatory risks by making key data accessible when needed for auditing and inquiries. This helps maintain compliance with industry standards and reduces the risk of non-compliance penalties.

Let’s make a resolution for 2025 to prioritize data governance in a strategic and sustainable manner. Your organization probably has many of these processes in place today, maybe you don’t call it “data governance,” but the bottom line is that adopting these practices ensures your long-term success and business resilience. If you put a little daily effort “on the treadmill” to audit and apply the appropriate data governance model to your processes, you don’t need to worry about breaking your next new year’s resolution.

At Blue Mantis, we are committed to helping you create a robust data governance strategy. Connect with us today, and together, we can build a strategic and sustainable data governance framework for 2025 and beyond.