What is Data Modernization? And Why You Should Pay Attention?
The ability to effectively utilize data-driven tools to power business decisions has become a key differentiator for high-performing companies across various industries. Instead of getting the latest digital solution, it is now more important to invest in technology that you know directly solves your business problem and, more so, knowing how to use it well. Data modernization helps transform your data assets into more usable formats and extracts maximum value from them.
Read on to learn how data modernization helps harness the true power of data-driven tools, empowers you to make smart business decisions, and the importance of data modernization assessment.
What is data modernization?
Running a business has physical, functional, and operational complexities that can result in non-linear behaviours, business uncertainties, and under-efficient utilization of resources. Modernization in the last few decades has focused overwhelmingly on digitizing operations and improving efficiency. Many industries are yet to fully realize the potential of valuable data their business processes generate and continue to rely heavily on legacy systems. For instance, healthcare enterprises find it challenging to respond to customer demands, market trends and public misinformation despite having access to comprehensive data.
Data modernization is the key to solving this critical puzzle, which entails upgrading legacy data silos to modern data-first systems. This multi-step process starts with a data modernization roadmap and can help improve business intelligence, support decision-making, and provide you with a competitive edge. Besides centralizing database management and making it easier to extract value from it, data modernization provides easier structure, storage, and access management. Applying a data-first approach to your business can help transform large volumes of segregated or unstructured data into a goldmine for actionable insights that drive business growth and resilience. With the right data transformation assessment tool, you can optimize the digitization of your operations effortlessly.
Why do companies need data modernization?
Without a centralized data management and governance architecture, you can miss out on critical insights that can have a tangible impact on business processes and functions. Here are some ways in which the absence of a smart data strategy can impact your business:
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Lack of real-time oversight: Legacy data systems do not interact with each other and usually result in multiple distinct systems working independently. This fails to give a real-time integrated oversight of different systems across internal and external environments.
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Data rigidity: The lack of a data-first approach that creates data silos across different functions is a breeding ground for rigidity. It also prevents companies from scaling up or down as per business requirements and responding to challenges with agility.
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Reduced compliance: A lack of accurate and reliable data from different aspects of the production process can lead to increased non-compliance issues and failure to meet industry standards or regulatory requirements. In addition to penalties, this can impact product quality and be detrimental to the brand.
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Ineffective data governance: Traditional data systems cannot offer meaningful data governance strategies or cybersecurity models. This can jeopardize the privacy, safety, and trust of data in the system.
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Poor Data quality: Data collected from multiple sources can have inconsistencies, duplication, outdated information, and errors, and upon use, this can result in inaccurate analysis and decision-making. It can also cause a loss in data integrity and standards within an organisation.
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Loss of opportunities: Companies that rely on legacy systems find it challenging to extract, transform and analyze large volumes of data, and are unable to instill a culture of data-driven decision-making. This directly results in a loss of innovative product development, data-driven services, and strategic partnerships.
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Inability to leverage advanced analytics and cloud capabilities: Legacy systems often lack the resources to support use cases related to advanced analytics and are not flexible in integrating with the cloud. This hinders an organisation from identifying complex patterns, obtaining predictive insights, and leveraging automation opportunities.
To make the most of modern data tools and ensure that these solutions align with your business needs, performing a baseline data modernization assessment is the first step. This transformation assessment includes a thorough review of existing systems and architectures to find suitable solutions. Find out how Rawcubes is helping companies leverage digital solutions better and improve business operations seamlessly.