How to Find Business Value in Your Data Through Modernization

According to IDC, there will be 44 zettabytes of data in the world by 2020. That number might make a splashy headline, but it presents an entirely different challenge for organizations that will be tasked with storing, analyzing and utilizing this data. Companies are collecting more data, in varying types and sizes, from more sources than ever before, but it only becomes a meaningful and valuable asset when organizations can transform it into actionable insights. In today’s increasingly crowded and complex data environment, that’s more challenging than ever especially for businesses operating on legacy systems.

Infrastructure modernization is the key to unlocking data value. Of course, the path and pace of data modernization will differ depending on an organization’s unique objectives or circumstances. Here, Anna Le, executive director of enterprise services product development, Dell Global Support & Deployment, offers five tips for finding business value in data through infrastructure modernization.

Finding Value in Business Data

Click through for five tips organizations can use to find business value in data through infrastructure modernization, as identified by Anna Le, executive director of enterprise services product development, Dell Global Support & Development.

Evaluate Data Relationships

Evaluate the relationship between your data and your business.

“In a world where almost everything is being transformed into a digital data point – and the volume, velocity and variety (3Vs) of data expand at a seemingly exponential rate – it’s apparent that the ability to govern big data increasingly separates winners and losers.” — Author Samuel Greengard

Your data could be the most valuable asset your business has yet to discover — everything you need to operate a more productive, efficient business is already inside your data if you can harness it. The challenge is making the time, resource and energy investments to uncover the business value that’s waiting there. The first step is to recognize that leveraging data effectively will play a key role in the future of your business, and opting out is really not an option.

Leverage Consulting Workshops

Leverage consulting workshops to set clear goals and outcomes.

The key to a simplified and successful data modernization program is to establish clear goals that firmly link your data program to specific business objectives. Participating in a consulting workshop is a good way to get a clear picture of the entire data modernization journey — where you are and what you can do to move closer to your goals. It will help you focus on the types of data you need to collect and analyze, identify the infrastructure you will need to achieve this and help you quantify the business value of your data program on an ongoing basis.

Upgrade Data Management Systems

Migrate away from legacy database management systems.

With the exponential growth of data quantity and complexity, yesterday’s technology can’t keep up with the needs of today’s data programs, much less tomorrow’s. That’s why organizations striving to get business value from their data will typically need to upgrade to the latest in database management, business intelligence and analytics tools. Organizations that fail to modernize will find it very challenging to implement effective and efficient data programs. Those that rise to the occasion will achieve key benefits like higher workload performance, increased data availability and enhanced data security, all of which enable major strides in innovation.

Implement Advanced Architectures

Plan for the long term with advanced architectures and predictive capabilities.

Both the opportunities and challenges that come from corporate data programs are evolving rapidly. In order to make long-term, large-scale, data-related improvements, businesses must implement advanced architectures that can handle complex analytics. By the same token, it’s crucial that companies invest in predictive capabilities that can help them make better long-term decisions, faster. Simply put, it’s beneficial if you can determine which of your past actions have been most successful, as this can allow you to discover best practices through trial and error. But if your competitor is able to outpace you in this process, you’ll soon find yourself losing ground. So to stay competitive, it’s important that you not only have the architecture you need to quickly analyze past performance but the predictive capabilities you need to more easily determine what will work in the future.

Bring the Analytics to Your Data

Bring the analytics to your data – instead of the other way around.

It’s not uncommon for companies to monopolize their data warehouse resources with multi-hour-long extract, transform and load processes to prepare data, only to then spend hours completing complex reports and queries. Today, there are analytics platforms that can streamline your data analysis to cut down on the time you spend working with and waiting for usable information. When you’re ready to update your toolset, look for an analytics platform that brings together technologies for analytics on structured and unstructured data from all of your data sources so you can get real-time decision support with a 360-degree perspective. Ideally, your solution should incorporate all the hardware, software and services components you need in one appliance to further streamline your data storage and usage.