NC Feb-Mar 2023

FEATURE: DATA PERSPECTIVES
warehouses. Legacy systems are also finite by
design, meaning with scaleup additional
storage is required; business growth, therefore,
comes with the problem of increased
hardware investment. At the time these systems
were built when green initiatives were not
commonplace either, so hardware cannot be
significantly optimised for sustainability goals.
They are also more costly to maintain, with
breakdowns the sole responsibility of the
business. Hardware systems represent a single
point of failure, if severe breakdowns or
external issues such as damage occur,
business operations come to a standstill.
Considering this, businesses must seek
modern data-driven solutions, to decide
which strategy is most applicable a whole host
of technologies must be explained.
THE SYSTEMS OF DATA-DRIVEN
EVERYTHING
Cloud systems often form the base of a
company's digital transformation. When
compared to legacy systems, cloud is a more
resilient, cost-effective, faster, greener solution.
Cloud providers place connected data houses
in various locations, nullifying breakdown or
damage risks. Cloud can also be optimised
quicker and more minutely, meaning
optimisations for speed of processing are
more easily made. Cost efficiency is a key
component, cloud providers such as AWS
scale cloud computing costs based entirely on
usage, meaning businesses only pay for what
they need and are ready for scale-up at any
given moment. Providers also cover all
optimisation and problem fixes internally.
Most cloud providers also run operations on
green energy, aiming for carbon neutrality by
2050, benefitting cloud-based businesses'
green credentials.
All of these benefits provide a foundation for
faster data collation and access, allowing
businesses to act on data insights in real time.
Cloud systems are also exceptional at
removing unnecessary manpower resources
away from maintaining IT systems, meaning
resources can instead be directed toward
diligent data analysis.
DATA LAKES
Businesses reliant on legacy systems collect
data from various siloed systems, the adverse
effect of this is data mismanagement and an
overall lacking of the 'bigger picture'.
Naturally, storing data in siloed systems
reduces the speed and accuracy of which
data can be acted on. A data lake removes
these issues by collating structured and
unstructured data regardless of scale. From
here, the now-centralised data can be utilised
for machine learning, big data processing
and real-time analytics.
The effect of implementing a data lake on
bottom lines can be considerable, with
research showing companies with data lakes
boasted 9% more organic growth revenue
compared to competitors that had siloed data
systems. The reasons for this are likely that
data lakes offer speedier, more accessible and
accurate insights; research details that 87% of
companies with a data lake believe decisionmaking
markedly improved. Additionally, 92%
of leaders trust data lakes to be the most
effective solution for centralising data. In
comparison to data warehouses - data lake's
predecessor - the modernised solution also
comes with a lower cost of ownership.
Ultimately, data lakes are a foundational
component for businesses realigning to a
data-driven perspective. The centralised data
system enables quicker reactivity to market
changes, synergised collaboration between
separate departments and more informed,
impactful business decisions.
AI AND ML
With AI and Machine Learning (ML) you get
what you put in, literally. The more a business
gears itself toward AI and ML the stronger data
outcomes will be. Likely, businesses are already
leveraging AI in back-end and customer-facing
applications, but the importance of continuous
efforts toward ML can be neglected. Once
businesses have a firm grasp on centralised
data collation and analysis, they can begin to
input this data into ML. As this process
continues, ML becomes intelligent enough to
impact the sophistication of AI because data
interpretation can be used to create highquality
insights.
Businesses that produce an effective databased
system to nurture ML and AI will
produce a high detail analysis of how a
business is operating and how clientele utilise
the company's service. Ultimately, this allows
businesses to accurately optimise areas they
have identified as inefficient.
A DATA-DRIVEN FUTURE
The opportunities available to businesses
willing to realign to data-first systems and ways
of working are clearly demonstrated. Efficiency,
accuracy and future-proofing are key benefits
of data-driven investment. Businesses shouldn't
focus on adopting the whole breadth of digital
transformation technologies, but a carefully
curated digital transformation plan will give
them the best chance of market
competitiveness, the edge over more stubborn
competitors, and an overall more effective and
diligent operation. The technology and
expertise are in place to transform whole
sectors in 2023 - businesses leveraging data
to empower decisions will gain advantages in
the immediate future and beyond. NC
WWW.NETWORKCOMPUTING.CO.UK @NCMagAndAwards FEBRUARY/MARCH 2023 NETWORKcomputing 25