As consumer data privacy laws become more country, state and even sector-specific, legal technologists are discovering that how they manage and store data has taken on new urgency. In the process, they’re finding that by creating and adhering to data standards, other internal processes can be simplified as well.

In managing data for any reason, be it new client intake or customer privacy concerns, creating data standards should always be the first priority. But merely creating data standards is not enough. Data standards need dedicated enforcement—that’s where data governance comes into play. Many executives in the legal field, and even IT professionals, confuse data standards with data governance. Simply put, the term data standards applies to the information itself—the data that is collected and stored. Data governance encompasses all the tasks that need to be performed in order to transform data so that it aligns with the data standards.