“The volume of data generated worldwide is expected to reach 175 zettabytes by 2025- almost five times more than in 2018.”
– IDC
In recent years, abundant data has brought about significant changes in consumer behavior, with personalization and instant gratification becoming standard expectations. For businesses to remain competitive and effectively meet their customers’ evolving needs, they must understand and adapt to these changes.
Leading organizations are continuously evolving their data ecosystems to optimize, transform, and innovate, enabling them to remain resilient and pivot during these times of change. IT leaders are responding to disruptions by making strategic decisions, improving the efficiency of their existing business operations, enabling business agility, and driving innovation. They realize that, by doing so, they can navigate uncertain times and maintain a competitive edge in the market.
Rise of the Need to Modernize Data Ecosystems
Legacy data ecosystems in organizations were not designed to meet the robust data requirements of modern-day businesses. As a result, organizations are endeavoring to modernize their data landscapes to approach zero latency in data and insights. Modernizing data ecosystems empowers organizations with real-time insights, reduces data capture and information processing latency, and simplifies aligning with users’ requirements. Through this modernization, organizations can stay relevant and leverage the full potential of their data to drive growth and success. Some factors that call for the modernization of data architectures are:
- Adoption of Cloud: Cloud computing has become integral to modern data ecosystems. The cloud offers businesses the perfect platform to handle large volumes and varieties of data with scale, agility, and cost-effectiveness. Cloud-native tools for advanced analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and automation make it easier for organizations to adapt to data on the cloud, providing optimum storage, computing, warehousing, and security to drive business outcomes. Most data analytics tools used throughout the data value chain are available on the cloud, making it easier for businesses to leverage cloud platforms to ingest data from disparate sources at a scale and cost that makes for the perfect return on investment (ROI).
- Data Governance: Data governance is a critical factor in data ecosystem modernization. A well-defined data governance strategy enables organizations to maintain compliance with regulatory requirements, mitigate risks associated with data breaches, and maintain data quality. With data governance, organizations can gain better control over their data assets and provide a more comprehensive view of their data, enabling faster decision-making and improved business outcomes.
- Modernizing Legacy Systems: Legacy systems that many organizations rely on are no longer fit for the purpose, as they were not designed to meet modern-day businesses’ robust data requirements. By modernizing their data ecosystems, organizations can approach zero latency in data and insights, empower their users with real-time insights, and simplify aligning with user requirements. Legacy systems often struggle to keep pace with modernization, leading organizations to face difficulties staying relevant in today’s fast-moving digital world. Therefore, modernizing legacy systems is a critical driver for data ecosystem modernization.
- Agile and DevOps Practices: Agile methodologies and DevOps practices can significantly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of data ecosystem modernization efforts. Agile and DevOps practices can help organizations rapidly respond to changing business needs and customer demands by enabling more frequent software releases and faster feedback loops. Moreover, these practices can help organizations break down silos, improve collaboration and communication between different teams, and foster a culture of innovation and continuous improvement.
- Data Democratization: Data democratization involves making data available to all organizational stakeholders, allowing them to make data-driven decisions. Organizations can empower employees to access and analyze data, derive insights, and make informed decisions in real-time by enabling data democratization. Such a practice can significantly improve organizational agility, foster a culture of innovation and continuous improvement, and improve employee satisfaction and retention rates.
Time to Realize the Value of Data-as-an-asset
To stay relevant in the competitive landscape and leverage the full potential of their data to drive growth and success, organizations must make a compelling case for modernizing their data ecosystems. It is time organizations moved from the trend of becoming ‘data-driven’ and start recognizing the value of ‘data-as-an-asset.’ This new approach will empower organizations with real-time insights, reduces data capture and information processing latency, and simplifies aligning with users’ requirements.
AgreeYa as a Global Systems Integrator has been helping organizations build a data eco-system that enables better decision-making and propels business growth. Contact us today!