In the rapidly evolving digital landscape, organizations have discovered that the key to successful digital initiatives lies in the meticulous management of accurate, relevant, and targeted data. However, most organizations face a conundrum. They have vast amounts of data, but it resides in disparate, poorly organized, and undocumented stores. Modern business leaders must develop a clear and detailed strategy for providing easy access to and control over all corporate data and unlocking its value. Failing to take action will jeopardize critical initiatives such as accelerating AI opportunities, improving the customer experience, and becoming a fully-connected, data-driven business.
Although the need to make data more accessible is not new, getting the needed funding and the attention of senior management has not been easy. As one CIO put it, “This isn’t the kind of sexy project that has visibility across the organization. It’s kind of like plumbing.” IT often improvises with workarounds or one-time integrations, but stopgap measures won’t scale for the big projects that are likely on the horizon. Already, with many applications needing to reflect the real-time status of key business processes, the time lag caused by complex data integrations isn’t tenable.
Why businesses must prioritize data access
Putting all of the organization’s data at users’ fingertips must become a top priority for IT management. Organizations that leverage data better than their peers develop a compelling competitive advantage. Many corporations have begun effectively using customer data from marketing technology platforms, giving them an advantage that increases when capabilities spread to the entire organization. Enterprises whose management remains unaware of this issue or thinks they can wait for others to solve the problem will find that, over time, the problem becomes more complicated as the data stockpile grows.
It's important for business leaders to understand that nearly every employee role can be enhanced with better utilization of corporate data. From the factory floor to the C-suite, having the right data available at the right time results in better management decisions and actions; it’s a catalyst for effective operations. There is more opportunity for innovation at the employee level, and any problems can be identified before they spiral into serious issues.
Key actions to unlocking data value
Innovative new technologies are making it easier to unlock the value in existing and newly created data by simplifying the construction of the corporate data asset and empowering those that will use it. Savvy enterprises will want to focus on these key tasks:
- Modernize the data foundation. Organizations must solve the problem of disorganized and disparate data. Deploying a unified data hub is a first step toward leveraging the value in locked-up corporate data. A well-integrated compute and storage infrastructure can provide seamless access to resources, from the edge to the cloud. This beneficial approach ensures that all data sources are available and that applications perform at the required level. Modernization also enables the deployment of improved security tools that offer greater protection, allows employees to identify critical data for master datasets, and makes it easy to set up specific schemas for supporting compliance and regulatory requirements.
- Empower data users. Business users must have access to all the data they need from the edge to the cloud, along with modern tools such as AI and analytics for identifying value. A growing number of employees, far beyond traditional data-dependent employee roles, will use reporting and analysis tools to allow businesses to move ever faster. Data will become the foundation of cross-functional communication and interactions. This empowerment of employees with critical information will lead to a remarkable increase in efficiency.
Choose the right data solution
Unlocking the value of an organization’s data requires a long-term commitment. The current state of siloed information in disparate formats took decades to develop and cannot be remedied overnight. Choosing the right solution or platform is key. The functionality that most often leads to success includes:
- An open architecture and integration tools
- Native support for cybersecurity
- Built-in automation to enable IT professionals to focus on the highest-value tasks
- Tight integration with compute resources to ensure that data can be manipulated at speed
- Efficient use of resources to keep costs in line
- Flexibility to meet unknown future challenges without redoing work
Individual organizations are highly likely to have additional demands, and these should be identified prior to starting the modernization project.
The ability to quickly unlock value from data has become much more important in many industries, as data accessibility and intelligence becomes a determinant of competitive position. HPE is a proven partner that can help develop a data-driven strategy and enable organizations to modernize the data estate across the entire enterprise.
