Realizing the value of the data center--incubating core data analysis capabilities

Realizing the value of the data center--incubating core data analysis capabilities

With the popularity of "data middle office" (DMO), Chinese enterprises hope to better manage and utilize the data assets behind the data middle office. The early success stories of data centers in some fields have made the entire market have high expectations for this concept. Today, most corporate organizations still agree with the concept of DMO, but are also looking for appropriate ways to apply it in practice. On the other hand, according to a recent Gartner survey (see Figure 1), more than one-third of enterprise organizations are still confused about the feasibility and applicability of this concept.

Figure 1: Chinese enterprises’ attitude towards building a data middle platform

Nowadays, the term data center has gradually faded in the market. The focus of both end users and technology providers on the data center has shifted from the concept itself to the data value that can ultimately be realized and the capabilities required. To ensure a smooth transition to a DMO, organizations must prioritize the following three things.

Clarify the value proposition of the data center

The main purpose of DMO is to achieve data consistency and reusability. These capabilities can in turn support agile data-driven management and assembled D&A services/products to achieve business optimization and further digitalization. However, the data center is not a disruptive technology or tool, nor is it a single project that can be completed in the short term. Rather, it is a design of D&A strategy that can serve different business priorities by leveraging a range of technologies and business practices and linking them to the organization's overall business strategy.

In the market, "data middle platform" is an umbrella term that encompasses all aspects of the three main data value propositions: D&A foundation, D&A standardization, and D&A monetization. Gartner defines three basic value propositions in the D&A field—infrastructure, business empowerment, and transformation driver—and the level of benefits of the three is progressively increasing. This value proposition framework can also be viewed as the various stages of DMO evolution.

According to the maturity stage of different customers, the value recognition and capabilities brought by DMO are different. Informatization level, data readiness and D&A literacy level will become important dimensions for evaluating the deployment capabilities and deployment space of enterprise data middle platforms. In addition, as business complexity and business scale increase, the advantages of the data center will become more obvious.

It should be noted that the data center is not designed for small businesses or companies with stable business content. D&A leaders in such organizations should focus more on leaner or more targeted D&A projects to quickly achieve business returns.

Scope the data center based on priority

After defining the value proposition and understanding the current state of the organization, the organization can begin to determine the scope of the data middle office that needs to be implemented based on target priorities. In the past, the data center has been regarded as a resource-intensive comprehensive D&A platform composed of multiple modules. But in fact, corporate organizations do not necessarily have to hold this view and build an end-to-end DMO from scratch.

There are different views on the expansion scope of the data center and whether it should cover the entire D&A platform. Vendors often market data middle offices based on the advantages of their own technology products. However, D&A leaders should determine the technology scope of the data center based on their own goals and priorities, existing D&A architecture and ecosystem, and resource allocation. Figure 2 illustrates the four most common types of concerns observed by Gartner across organizations.

Figure 2: Four common types of data centers

Go beyond the technical level to promote the long-term success of the data center

Although D&A leaders can easily capture and respond to the concept of platform in data, there are still challenges in promoting it within the enterprise. Unlike purely technical projects, the success of data middle offices depends largely on the active participation and collaboration of business units and business audiences. However, in many cases, business users will view DMO as a purely technical project, such as deploying a data warehouse, deploying a reporting platform, or launching a data governance platform. Therefore, they mistakenly believe that the DMO “should” not require much involvement from them. The lack of consensus and understanding among business departments is the reason why many enterprise organizations fail to deploy data middle platforms. At the same time, this will also weaken trust in D&A projects within corporate organizations.

To avoid these situations, D&A leaders should leverage agile delivery methods to reshape the D&A organizational model into a converged team structure; establish a specific business value process map; and set up cascading indicators to track progress.