Preparing for the Future of Data

The IT landscape is changing drastically along with the digitization of industries. Data is at the core of this transformation and companies are investing heavily in their data to secure the continuous value creation. The opportunity for a large return on investment is currently better than ever and the tooling available in the cloud provides analytics teams the ability to create experiments faster than ever.

The rise of unstructured data

The rapid increase in the amount of unstructured data has left a lot of companies looking for ways to capitalize on their data. Over the past years and in the upcoming years we are seeing a complete shift towards using unstructured data as a primary data source. Some of the more frequent data sources for unstructured data are the following:

Using these data sources openly challenges the conventional infrastructure and business models of enterprises. The image below depicts some of the core numbers in this transition and how it is estimated to continue in the future.

This development is unlikely to stop any time soon and it forces businesses everywhere to focus on creating a data strategy to accommodate the changes. Fail to act and you will find value creation getting more difficult as the focus on tooling and development shifts towards accommodating unstructured data. The essence of successfully accommodating the change is to formulate a cross-company data strategy for data management.

Harness the unstructured data

If this opportunity is addressed timely and proficiently, great opportunities for value creation arise. The first step towards working actively with your unstructured data is to decide on an accessible and scalable infrastructure. The public cloud platforms provide great options for hosting your unstructured data with data lakes. Data lakes serve multiple purposes for an organization and have great power to provide the future foundation for handling unstructured data.

The opportunities of a cloud data lake

• A unified data view

Structured data often provides insights into specific parts of the business. However, with the tremendous growth in unstructured data, you might only see parts of the full picture. To provide the best foundation for decision-making, the structured data must be enriched with unstructured data. A data lake is a great option for enriching data and creating a unified view.

• Flexibility

Where traditional data warehousing requires high focus on data preparation, a data lake allows for a larger degree of flexibility. You do not necessarily need to be equipped with all the questions and answers before you start your journey. When you gain experience with your data sources you will subsequently be capable of providing more answers and provide added value.

• Derive value from all data types

A data lake can handle countless types of data and therefore enable value creation to be realized across many different data streams within the organization. Today, value is being created from data sources that few people considered a valuable data source in the past. While the journey towards using a variety of data sources is challenging, it can ultimately become a key element in solving significant business challenges and provide a competitive advantage.

The secret of getting ahead is getting started

Unstructured data and a data lake do not necessarily provide the infrastructure for adding valuable data-driven business capabilities. Like any other prioritized business strategy, it requires investment and commitment. Regardless of the choice of data infrastructure, providing a solution for the growing amount of unstructured data has become a necessity for all types of organizations in the quest for value. A well-crafted solution can unlock the potential of your data and help you gain momentum along with a competitive advantage.

Reach out and we can have a talk about how we help you on your exciting data journey.

About the Author

Kristoffer Andreasen has 3 years of consultancy experience developing modern applications in the cloud within the pharma and life science industry.

About NNIT Digital Transformation Insights

NNIT Digital Transformation Insights is a regular column where prominent NNIT consultants share their thoughts on current and future digital transformation. You are welcome to contact us at itmanagement@nnit.com if you want to know more about how NNIT can help your business improve its competitive agility, cost base and regulatory compliance.

Sources:

The effect of big data and analytics on firm performance

International Data Corporation Forecast