Data analytics is complicated by the fact that information is still commonly stored in various systems including the cloud, making it hard for companies to leverage it as a key way to create more value.
A new study from Forrester Consulting, commissioned by Oracle, emphasises the essential role of multi-hybrid cloud platforms to collate the mass of information that enables analysis of insights and inform business-critical decisions.
The study, entitled “Moving the Needle: Data Management for the Multi-Hybrid Age of IT”, explains that 82% of the 670 senior technology decision makers recognize that investing in the right data management strategy will lead to better business outcomes. However, 73% admit that they have disparate and siloed data strategies that are stopping them from providing business stakeholders with the data they need.
Reinier van Grieken, vice-president of Oracle Systems Europe and the Middle East, comments: “Organisations know they need data driven insight so they can operate in new and innovative ways and respond to different and unexpected business priorities.
“Customers need to be able pull together data from all sources into one platform to make sense of it, regardless of where the data lives; it’s what they can do with the critical information right now that matters as well as data defining the future of work.
“Increasingly that means in a multi-hybrid cloud environment.”
As the study shows, with increased complexity, compounded by working across different IT environments, 64% of respondents are grappling with the challenge of managing a multi-hybrid infrastructure. So it’s not a surprise if 70% of organisations consider the need to simplify their IT processes as a high priority.
One issue highlighted by the study is that concerns and focus around data security and data governance are limiting businesses from gaining key benefits.
According to the research, the adoption of multi-cloud data hosting is driven by the need for diversification as well as access to unique capabilities – approximately six out of 10 respondents mentioned “accessing specific technology or capabilities” as drivers for their multi-cloud strategy.
However, even though 83% of firms believe they need to keep up with data security requirements as they advance along their data management roadmap, half of respondents say they currently lack the ability to adequately ensure data protection and comply with security regulations.
Given these challenges, the study recommends that organisations look to their technology partners for a unified data platform that will provide end-to-end visibility across their hybrid environments, along with the security foundations that are flexible enough to meet current and future data complexities.
Key findings from the research include:
* 82% of respondents want their data strategy to lead to a better understanding of the customer and a better customer experience.
* 73% of organisations report disparate and siloed data strategies that stop them from achieving this goal.
* 36% of the data is still hosted on-premise, 19% is hosted on a public cloud and 18% on private cloud.
* The nature of the data collected by these organizations has considerably changed – with 31% being tabular/structured and the remainder being non-tabular/semi structured or unstructured data. Of the latter, are 18% text data and the rest evenly distributed across images/video, machine generated data, streaming data, and others.
* Public sector and retail shows low data strategy maturity: 34% of public sector and healthcare organisations have an incomplete data strategy.