Data Modernization - The Risks of Not Overhauling Your Data Estate

Data is the new superfood that businesses feed off to not just survive, but also thrive. This raw source of business power is continuously generated and keeps growing abundantly every day. The digital trends of 2022 show that out of 7.91 billion people living in the world, the number of global internet users has already increased to a whopping 4.95 billion by the start of this year. The latest data suggests that in the past 12 months alone, there has been a 4% increase in the number of internet users, globally - about 192 million people in a single year. There are now close to 5 billion customers online interacting with various digital touchpoints and generating massive amounts of data.

Businesses are living in a profitable time; whoever astutely harnesses the power of data calls the shots. Organizations that leverage data to make strategic business decisions are going to be the leaders of tomorrow. But this superfood in its raw, unadulterated form is not of great use. Sure, data is valuable, but in an unrefined and unstructured form, it does not serve the intended purpose. Therefore, it has become imperative for organizations to adopt data modernization to derive actionable intelligence from their data and make incisive business decisions.

Are you reaping the benefits of the digital seeds you sowed?

If yes, then you’re already using your data estate to derive value from your enterprise data to make intelligent actions. But if you’re not, the time to modernize your data estate is right now. The amount of data being created currently requires a highly advanced data estate that can break the existing data silos, easily analyze the data, and extract value. Your data estate should help you move from recognizing what happened and understanding why it happened to predicting what will happen and ultimately figuring out what are the right steps you need to take to either course-correct your business decisions or better them.

As a result of the immense amount of data being generated, data architectures that used to break data down, analyze, and draw insights from it are rapidly becoming outdated. Not that existing data architectures don’t serve their intended purpose; they were not built to manage the magnitude of information and insights required today. The times are calling for modern data estates that can help businesses better understand customer behavior, tweak experiences as per customer expectations, and meet their business targets efficiently.

Contemporize your business superfood

Businesses can leverage data effectively to generate massive profits and aid in business transformation. A great example is of the Netherland based biscuit manufacturer, Pally Biscuits. In existence for over 100 years, they wanted to become a data-driven organization and adopt a smarter way of production. They built a centralized data estate that provided access to relevant data in a secured way to everyone in the organization, whenever they needed it. The overhauling of their data estate has doubled their benefits; they now not only have better business insights, but can also identify exceptions and understand expectations in their market.

The idea behind data modernization is to build a modular platform that is extensible, flexible, secure, cost-effective, and well-governed.

The platform should be ever-ready and able to embed new data innovations like AI and machine learning. Also, with the added and combined support of technology, governance, and security, your data estate should manage data efficiently and be highly scalable.

However, the risks of remaining stagnant and not upgrading data estates are high. Underutilization of data could lead to unrealized business opportunities and make you lose your competitive edge. Here are some of the risks that businesses run for being complacent in modernizing their data estates:

• Redundant technology: The data architecture that once supported your business requirements is no longer producing the desired outcomes because that technology driving it has reached its end of life. Soon, the software and hardware would also become redundant and unsupported by external vendors. This would eventually lead to performance, compliance, regulatory, and security issues. The final option of completely upgrading your legacy, on-premise system will turn out to be a time-consuming and costly affair. Rather, timely investment in modern technology that helps manage the data requirements of today is a viable solution.
• Constrained performance: A legacy data estate will make your business lag behind your competitors. Without a modern data estate, your business will not be able to take advantage of the new services and workloads like Machine Learning (ML) or streaming of Earth Observation data (EO).
• Regulatory and compliance issues: As data continuously grows and evolves, so are the regulatory and compliance norms that govern them. The longer you stay with your soon-to-be redundant data platform, the more complicated it becomes for your business to meet compliance requirements. Also, with newer mandatory regulations like GDPR in place, compliance requirements have to be strictly met.
• Lack of data insights: As the technology of legacy systems becomes obsolete, it is clear that they were not built to handle the data requirements of today. Your legacy system is finding it difficult to extract the required data insights. As a result, the right data is not reaching the right people at the right time. The lack of a modern data estate makes it tedious for employees to access data promptly and make strategic business decisions on time.
• Limited storage: Data is pouring in every second and is filling up your legacy system to the brim. The only way to work around this issue is to make space by moving your historical data to a more cost-effective storage technology, like the cloud. 
• Budget constraints: The cost of maintaining legacy systems is already high, plus shrinking IT budgets are making it difficult for legacy systems to be sustainable in the long run. So, why stick to unjustifiably expensive legacy systems, when there are modern, cost-effective solutions available?

Data-driven change is inevitable

As data continues to grow, so does the need to upgrade the data estate that aligns correctly with today’s data demands. With a modern data estate, businesses will be able to draw out the true value from their enterprise data. The massive volume of data will further help organizations to figure out bottom-line results.

At Srijan, we work with you to define your business use cases. We assess the current state of your platform and identify the challenges you are facing. Then, based on your unique business needs, we come up with a plan for a data platform modernization strategy that can help in developing and delivering your data needs quickly.

Let’s talk about making your data estate ready for the future, today. Connect with us to find out more.