As the modern-day enterprise continues growing in complexity, so too does the data used within it – both in nature and usage. This is especially true of businesses employing IoT networks. Connected devices are becoming increasingly more sophisticated in terms of their functionality and the types of datasets they generate. Taking advantage of the data requires careful architecting of IT infrastructures to ensure that systems are not just adaptable and scalable, but also connected with each element of the enterprise.
It is mission-critical for organizations to connect data, systems, and teams across the entire enterprise to ensure they can keep pace with innovation happening around them. This starts by first understanding the current state of data management.
Realities of data management
Gross – data must be available to all teams and people for analysis
The focus for businesses in the data management realm revolves around improving their data-sharing capabilities, a trend identified by Gartner in a recent analysis. If organizations are looking to derive the most value they can from their datasets and squeeze insights from them, the data must be available to all teams and people for analysis.
The same report also said that businesses acknowledge the need for data-sharing, but often lack know-how to effectively execute it. Complicating this further is the myriad nature of today’s datasets – generated by systems and applications of all types that are more complex than before.
Connected devices have exploded in usage and popularity, and are generating vast amounts of complex data that needs analysis. A recent report predicts that by 2025, over 150,000 new IoT devices will connect to the internet every minute. But this data is nothing if it can’t be properly understood and applied to the business. Unlocking its potential requires better connectivity across the entire enterprise.
This is where centralized ‘sources of truth’ become so crucial for today’s connected enterprise. All parts of an organization must connect to each other and share data efficiently and with complete integrity. Cloud and hybrid solutions can help establish or speed up connectivity, especially as workplaces are increasingly made up of distributed, disparate workforces.
Together, hybrid solutions make up the backbone of an IT infrastructure poised to tackle the complexity of today’s evolving datasets. Once businesses have built the solid foundation of their IT infrastructure with security and connectivity, they can collect and process data efficiently and with great effect in today’s hybrid environments.
Clearing connectivity hurdles
Today’s hybrid world has revolutionized many traditional IT practices, creating systems that are naturally well-positioned for connectivity. For example, cloud technologies that connect employees to data wherever they work or IoT sensors that provide insight into historically paper-driven industries like manufacturing.
One issue for those building new infrastructure to support the hybrid world is that most businesses are still in the process of modernizing. On-premises data centers remain a reality for many businesses and to offload services and data to the cloud – completely or partially – involves time and capital investments that some companies are yet to make.
However, a mis-conception that still remains is that organizations need to become 100-percent cloud. In fact, hybrid cloud models are a much more practical – and in many cases optimized – reality for the near future. Once these technologies are deployed and orchestrated properly, businesses can take the first steps towards leveraging the data that’s been generated to drive decision-making forward.
This is important for organizations trying to stay ahead of their competition – those that can use their data to connect their enterprise will be the ones best-suited for success in the face of market shifts.
