EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE TOP RISKS HIDDEN WITHIN AN ORGANIZATION ’ S UNSTRUCTURED DATA , AND HOW CAN THEY BE ADDRESSED ?
ROMAN TODA , CHIEF STANDARDIZATION
OFFICER , FOXIT
Unstructured data holds enormous potential . Advancements in artificial intelligence algorithms , natural language understanding , computer vision , speech recognition and other techniques transform the way unstructured data are handled . By automating complex tasks , discovering hidden patterns and generating actionable insights businesses trust and rely more on unstructured data . There are risks in the learning stage when you need structured data that AI models learn from , those are hard to get to . If all use the same AI models for data understanding then it ’ s more complicated to gain competitive advantage .
It is unrealistic to expect that we will reach a point when all data will be born as structured . Quite the opposite . Unstructured data is cheaper and easier to generate and is already part of our life and business processes . It ’ s essential to understand the complexity of its processing . Companies need to be willing to invest in the tools , infrastructure and expertise in order to manage it effectively . By understanding and mitigating the associated risks , businesses can unlock valuable insights , drive innovation and maintain a competitive advantage .
As a simplified validation of processes and tools businesses can try to answer easy questions :
• Are my tools able to convert unstructured data to structured ?
• Can I identify sensitive data and effectively redact them ?
• How do I build trust in the tools I use ? And am I confident they do good work for me ?
• Can my tools make me trust the data I receive ?
• Am I able to connect my structured data with unstructured content ?
• Is the infrastructure I use able to scale for processing a lot of data ?
• Is the price of data understanding lower than generating the structured data ?
• Are my tools able to take advantage of embedded structure ?
If you can ’ t answer the questions , it ’ s probably a good idea to reevaluate your strategy and look for a better tools set .
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