“The world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data.” This headline in the Economist accurately describes the world we live in today. Technology allows companies to capture data about operational processes, consumer behavior, financial performance and every other aspect of business from sources that did not even exist a decade ago.
Unfortunately, the volume of data available to us today is also overwhelming, with many companies unable to collect “good” data or to leverage the data they have to provide critical business insights. In fact, studies show that 40% of enterprise data is either inaccurate, incomplete or unavailable and this bad data costs businesses trillions of dollars each year.
So how does an organization overcome the challenges of this new data crisis?
We have all read about companies that are embarking on a digital transformation journey – a strategy to develop the technology, processes and people needed to collect and analyze data that provides valuable insights to support business decisions. Although the adoption of new applications to handle new sources and uses of data has been the strategy, real digital transformation requires a more holistic look at how data is collected, accessed and used throughout the enterprise and reducing the silos that create barriers to visibility.
Instead, companies must begin their digital transformation by modernizing their integration platform. Legacy solutions are costly, inflexible and unscalable, which limits their ability to handle big data, unstructured data and data from multiple sources.
Look at the retail industry for an example of the importance of real-time access to information throughout the organization is essential. As more retailers adopt an omni-channel strategy to improve the customer’s shopping experience, data must be accurate, and information must be available in real-time. When shopping online, the customer immediately knows if the item selected is in stock online or in specific stores and can select if the item is shipped to the home or to a local store. Once the order is placed, a multitude of other departments or third-party partners become involved to pick, package and ship the item.
Throughout the process, data must flow to and from each source with no glitches or delays. End-to-end visibility throughout the purchase for the consumer, the retailer, the logistics company and the store at which the customer may pick up the item is critical. Each of these partners has a separate enterprise system and multiple applications – reports say that companies can have more than 500 applications – that include information that must be shared with outside sources.
Retailers and every other enterprise today are data-rich. Now how do you use the data to become insight-rich?
A single platform that aggregates data from disparate sources – companies and technologies – and harmonizes it to make it accessible throughout the organization is essential to retailers and any enterprise in any industry who need an intelligent connection to consumers, business partners and company locations throughout the world.
The recent merger of OpenText™ and Liaison Technologies brings best-of-breed solutions together to help you tackle the challenges of digital transformation, to become more agile and leverage the data you have. A cloud-based integration and data management platform that can integrate any data from any source gives the enterprise access to information necessary for today’s complex business decisions.
Learn more about how an intelligent business network that is connected, collaborative and intelligent can help your company meet the ever-increasing demands on your business. Watch the webinar on-demand to learn more about new methods to help you become insight-rich with the data you already have.
You will learn:
- Trends in the business value chain transformation
- Opportunities in data integration and management
- The value of a digital business integration platform
- How OpenText and Liaison are delivering a data inspired future
