The fourth leg of the stool — Data protection
John Rosato · Journal of financial transformation · 2004
Financial executives focus on data creation, analysis, and dissemination as the lifeblood of their business strategy. At the creation phase, multiple inputs provide an enormous wealth of data. At the analysis phase, data becomes information, driving everything from business strategy to marketing strategy. At the dissemination phase, information becomes corporate wisdom as it is shared across the enterprise, and the corporation as a whole takes a step forward. This three-legged stool is sturdy, yet has its weaknesses, especially if the legs are not well positioned. What is needed is a fourth leg of the stool — an enterprise protection strategy that safeguards the data to make it available and accessible when needed. At the core of any financial firm’s discussion about data should be the questions: How current does my data need to be? What am I doing to protect and maintain my data across the enterprise?