Most organizations deal with sensitive customer data every day. From credit card and banking details to confidential medical files, there is a wide range of personal information that a company must safely use and store in the course of normal operating procedures. If your own business regularly processes a large amount of sensitive data, then it's crucial that you find a method for ensuring your company software is able to securely manage that information.

The ideal way to check that your systems can adequately handle all data in a compliant manner is to utilize test data management. With test data management, your business can use automated test data sets that are very similar to your real data, to accurately assess how dependably your programs will function in an actual production environment. Here are just a few of the important advantages that test data management can provide for your business. 

1) Fast delivery of reliable test data 

A major roadblock in testing is having to pull together the right test data to use. You can't simply utilize generic test data, as this will produce false results and issues when you deploy the software in the real world. However, it takes time to gather data that will properly simulate production data, especially if you must assemble the information manually. This can lead to delays in the testing process and errors in your software if the test data isn't sound. To combat this problem, you can employ a test data management service to automate the creation of test data for you. Special techniques are used to generate rich test data that will match your company's actual data and particular testing goals. Not only will this save your team valuable time, but you'll also have the assurance that you are working with complete and trustworthy test data. 

2) Reusable test data 

Once the test data has been created by the test data management service, you can re-use that information again if you need to run additional tests in the future. Test data management allows for the secure storage of the test data in a data warehouse that safeguards the information against corruption. This ensures that the data is properly controlled and can be shared across multiple teams without the need for time-consuming rework. Since you won't have to build entirely new data sets every time you conduct a test, you'll also be able to trace all data use over time and gain significant testing efficiency. 

3) Data masking and compliance 

As you continue to prepare your test data, it's vital to protect your most sensitive customer data. There are strict regulations in place to ensure that companies shield this information, but you should still take some necessary steps to guarantee that you don't inadvertently expose someone's personal details. A test data management service can help with masking the information in a way that creates useful test data. The quality of the data is preserved without breaching the trust that your customers have in your business. This focus on information security will generate synthetic data that is both compliant and effective for your testing purposes. 

The benefits of a dedicated test data management service can greatly improve and streamline the way you handle the sensitive data that is critical to your business. To maintain the integrity of your software, be sure to consider these advantages as you choose a test data management service to partner with your business. 

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