Data is like water to fuel a big workout: its hydration gives businesses and individuals what they need to hit their personal best. To help you turn data into insights that lead to better business decision making, we created a 30-60-90-day data integration fitness plan with expertise from leading Chief Data Officers (CDOs). In this first post of a three-part blog series, we introduce modern data integration and bust a myth that might have stopped you from starting your data integration journey so far.
You might have heard this before: "Data integration can't deliver immediate gains to improve decision-making." That may have been true in the past, but isn’t necessarily true these days. While data integration used to be a large transformation project that showed real ROI only after a few years, today things are different. Just like everyday fitness, it's possible to realize small incremental gains, right from the first workout.
But the data points you need for business success are often locked up in silos across the organization, slowing down the speed at which you and your teams can uncover business insights. Such data silos also make it challenging to understand which organizational muscle needs extra work and why certain parts of the corporate body can't seem to shred. One CDO told us that his organization uses less than 1% of the data it creates and stores.
To get started on data integration fitness, and unlock the power of data, throw out your pre-conceived data integration ideas. A new approach to data integration can break down bigger data integration projects into smaller development cycles, similar to breaking down your full-body workout into separate leg, arm, and cardio days. This approach delivers multiple smaller data products that demonstrate their direct impact on the business early and often.
However, each person, or business, in this case, must find the type of exercise and pace that works best for them. The CDO of a large multinational company told us it took his team three months to set the vision for their new data strategy. In comparison, the CDO of a medium-sized company completed the entire data integration project in three months at a single site.
The data marathon is on, but getting off the starting line is always the hardest, on the track and at work. According to IDC, 87% of CXOs said becoming a more intelligent enterprise is their priority over the next five years, but 60% of organizations experience significant challenges when investing in technology to create data, assessing the value of data, and identifying valuable data sources. You wouldn't attempt a marathon on your first run, but how do you eventually master the 26.2 milesto the finish line?
To get you there faster, we at Qlik have developed a 30-60-90-day data integration plan to get your organization data-fit based on what several CDOs have told us about their data integration projects.
By completing this fitness plan, you will gain a new, modern perspective towards data integration and the ability to implement robust, interconnected data pipelines. This perspective helps you overcome data silos, rapidly synchronize data from various sources, and provide employees with the information they need in mere minutes to make informed decisions. It's time to optimize your company's health and fitness. If successful organizations like Aggreko, Vancouver Airport Authority, and Shire Health can get data-fit, so can you!
Head over to the second blog post in our three-part series for our 30-60-90-day data integration fitness plan and the specific workouts you should be doing at each phase. Or download our e-book to find out how to make your business data fit with Qlik today.
