Data and analytics have proven their value in the pandemic, accelerating the need for organizations to reimagine business models to leverage data for intelligent decision-making. This article provides details on how to maximize value from data through a tightly integrated and unified data and analytics platform, which in turn enables organizations to transform into intelligent enterprises.
The amount of data available to businesses from around the world has increased more than tenfold in the last decade, from megabytes to zettabytes. It is a trend that will continue, as data generated by devices, infrastructure and operations, and social networks continues to grow. With vast amounts of data now available, the challenge for businesses lies in how to get the best value out of ever-growing data. Companies of all sizes, from huge industries to small start-ups, are realizing the importance of data and how it’s key to their business strategy. However, many business leaders are still struggling to align people and processes with their business data strategy. It is imperative that business users are empowered to gain insights from live data, keep data in context and make intelligent decisions.
Organizations need a simple, streamlined approach to organize, store and analyze their data. That can be difficult. Data sprawl is rampant, with databases spread across multiple platforms, on-premise and in the cloud. The resulting complexity can slow down businesses and throw a wrench into data governance. In order to solve the important challenges every business faces today, it is critical to have connected data systems to gain real-time insights. A unified data analytics platform can help in managing data sprawl by providing a centralized repository for all data. This will allow easier management and analysis of data, as well as provide a single point of contact for data requests.
In the wake of the pandemic, most companies are rethinking their decision-making processes and started transforming their business using data-driven strategies. Leaders have found that the data-driven culture they are trying to create is no longer a simple task. In fact, many executives now agree that transforming their organizations into true data-driven enterprises is easier said than done. For companies to become sustainable, data-driven intelligent enterprises and reap the greatest benefits, data should be democratized for the end users. Businesses can make their IT systems more robust by providing the right data to the right end users. This ensures businesses are able to make better decisions, improve operational efficiency, and ultimately become more profitable.
Manage Data Effectively with a Unified Data Analytics Platform
Organizations have made substantial progress when it comes to managing data—but that is not sufficient. Even though rules governing data management, discovery, and consumption are put in place, IT organizations are struggling to ensure the data is available in the right system with the right capabilities. Many organizations are increasingly opting for best-of-breed solutions to solve specific challenges, rather than relying on a single vendor for all data-management needs.
Enterprises face a dizzying array of data management options, from cloud-native applications that can collect insights from a single click, to on-premise technologies that are tightly integrated with legacy systems. A new generation of data management platforms, which combine the strengths of on-premise and cloud-based technologies, can help companies improve their data processes, security and governance.
Without effectively managing data, there’s little chance of connecting disparate data sources in real-time, let alone benefit from the insights that data can provide. A unified data analytics platform enforces data governance, security, and policy enforcement in order to democratize data in a safe manner. It also provides a strong semantic layer using which data can be easily analyzed further without being bogged down by technicalities.
Data should not be replicated or moved from one system to another, but rather integrated with relevant data sources to harness the power of live data using business intelligence (BI), what-if analysis, and simulations. This transformed data can be used to make intelligent decisions.
Analytics is Business-critical. Make the right decisions!
Analytics is business-critical. That’s no secret. It is what got you to where you are today. Yet, many organizations are still struggling to get value from analytics. Companies that cannot reliably deliver the right insights at the right time are resigning themselves to mediocrity. Enterprises often depend on planning and analytic tools to help answer business questions, but often the data they use to build their models do not match the data they need while making operational decisions. Human error and inaccurate data lead to poor decisions, and these decisions have different consequences across industries.
Enterprises should bring together analytics and planning with unique integration to business applications along with smooth access to heterogeneous data sources to make accurate decisions. With integrated planning and analytics, businesses would be able to find out What has happened and why did it happen? What could happen and what should happen?
This integration ensures business models are agile and react swiftly to ever-changing market needs. The data solutions should offer planning, analytics, collaboration, and reporting to business users, so they can adjust their business plans based on progress made.
Data should always be analyzed in its business context in order to get maximum value. Enterprises should look at embedding insights into the context of business applications to maximize the results and increase efficiency.
Further, it is imperative for companies to look beyond traditional technologies and infuse artificial intelligence and robotic process automation (RPA) for data analytics. RPA helps enterprises browse through business content and build powerful process automation boosting productivity.
Conclusion
In conclusion, “data” is underutilized in many companies. A unified data and analytics platform will help organizations realize the maximum potential of the data. The initial business-critical use cases require focused time and attention to be developed. Once they are available, it will set the ball rolling to develop additional use cases. This will result in realizing the benefits of the platform and creating a data-driven culture in the entire organization! If you do not implement a unified data and analytics platform, you are at a disadvantage. Set the right data strategy and make the switch today to help your business grow.
Author: Dharani Karthikeyan
Dharani is Vice President and head of engineering for analytics at SAP. She has two decades of industry experience and has varied experience ranging from search engine development, middleware, and orchestration to enterprise mobility. She is passionate in the area of Data and Analytics and works closely with customers across various industries and help them succeed in their data journey.
