Every organization is on the quest for new ways to capitalize on opportunities presented by the digital economy, whether they consider themselves to be “digitally transforming” or not. With the pace of innovation in technology witnessing a surge and a growing list of “must-have” solutions — self-service, AI, ML — top-notch players of these organizations struggle to keep up. However, some are driving business at full speed by setting the bar high. What are they doing that other companies are not?
The Economics of Data
Companies with a winning streak are certainly tech-savvy, but their strongest suit is data fluency. It is data that Google and Facebook garner from consumers and turn into revenue. Amazon translates customer data — that explains their demographics, needs and expectations — into recommendations that lead to higher sales, and logistics data into supply chain reductions. Chinese conglomerate Tencent gathers data across all of its business lines — from retail to payments — to use “closed-loop data” that drives its digital business model. Data drives the digital economy, and these organizations are the data experts.
Those who want to succeed in the digital economy must revamp their mindset on data. Instead of thinking about data as a definite part of their technology landscape, they must consider data as a capital asset. In doing so, they must be well-versed with data-driven technologies that actually enable them to unlock the true potential of data. Modern data integration solutions enable companies to harness the potential of complex data. They capture, create, and deliver value using data as the value currency.
Economists have been studying data for quite a while now. In their research, they have found out that data breaks multiple standard economic theories that were based on physical goods. Economically speaking, data is a kind of capital. By analyzing it properly, organizations can generate faster revenue.
Unlocking The True Potential of Data with Integration
Data indeed behaves like a capital. But it needs to be collected, ingested, and analyzed before it is used for business purposes. Data integration solutions play a vital role here. Companies can leverage these next-level solutions to onboard large streams of complex, bi-directional data in minutes instead of months. The primary advantage here is that business users with minimal technical expertise can onboard the data without seeking IT support. Non-technical business users can monitor the data through intuitive screens and dashboards and create data connections in minutes. To integrate data, users can rely on pre-built application connectors, shared templates, AI-enabled mechanisms etc. While users can leverage AI and ML to map different data fields, they can use pre-built connectors to build connections with speed and precision. Meanwhile, business users take care of the operations, IT and developer teams can govern the process and focus on more important tasks.
Once the data is ingested, integrated, and interpreted properly, it can be easily turned into value. Organizations can comprehend their customers’ behaviour, identify trends, and what not — all of which enables them to deliver delightful experiences, improve ease of doing business and generate faster revenue, and ultimately drive digital transformation initiatives.
Digital transformation calls for a transformation in the strategic assumptions associated with data. As the book, The Digital Transformation rightly puts it — data must not only be perceived as “a tool for optimizing processes.” It must be viewed as “a key intangible asset for value creation.” Once a company understands that their value generation would go through the roof.