Benefits of a data catalog and why you need one

A data catalog enables analysts to explore and discover an organization's available data. In addition to this important task, many AI-driven data catalogs use machine learning and natural language processing to make the process easier for business analysts and other less technical roles.

These AI-driven data catalogs also make tasks easier for data scientists and data analysts who need to sift through large amounts of data to compile what they need to conduct a study. The rich metadata in a data catalog can even assist enterprises in wrangling a seemingly endless data lake.

Many organizations pull in data from various business units, often pulling in much of the same data, causing duplicates and sometimes quality issues when certain units within the business have data that may or may not be the most current. One of the benefits of data catalogs is that they break down these data silos in many organizations. With all departments having access to the data catalog to search through the same data, cross-functional metrics are more widely available to all those within an enterprise that need that data.

However, with more people having access to the same data, enterprises face a challenge maintaining strong data governance practices. While breaking down data silos, it's important to maintain privacy and security for that data, especially sensitive data that shouldn't be widely available in an organization. Many data catalog tools can assist with this by providing lineage tools and configurable roles that allow certain people access to sensitive data, while masking it for others.

Click here to learn more about
The Data Catalog:
Sherlock Holmes Data
Sleuthing for Analytics.

Data catalogs are an integral part to managing enterprise data, but it can be difficult to navigate the options for data catalog tools and the many benefits they can provide. The Data Catalog: Sherlock Holmes Data Sleuthing for Analytics, written by Bonnie K. O'Neil and Lowell Fryman and published by Technics Publications, uses real-world examples, including graphics from multiple vendors, to showcase the many benefits of data catalogs to enterprises. This intensive overview of data catalogs of the various advantages of modern, AI-driven data catalogs is a great read for anyone ready to dive into understanding the vast enterprise data catalog landscape.

Here's a look at Chapter 7 of The Data Catalog: Sherlock Holmes Data Sleuthing for Analytics, which covers the versatility of data catalog tools and how they can be beneficial across an enterprise.