Published: 04 Mar 2024
Why is Data Modernization Necessary for Successful Digital Transformation?
Last Updated: 26 Mar 2024
Table of Contents
- Overview of Data Modernization
- Key Attributes of Data Modernization
- 5 Reasons Why Data Modernization is Crucial for Digital Transformation
- Conclusion
- How can TestingXperts Help with a Successful Data Modernization Process?
Did you know that every day, 328.77 million terabytes of data is being generated, and in 2024 alone, it is expected that 120 zettabytes of data will be generated by the end of year? Now, imagine what businesses can do with this huge amount of data if it is properly utilized. One must understand that in the modern business environment, data is the key that can accelerate business growth and technological advancements. To implement next-gen IT solutions such as AI, cloud, RPA, etc., businesses must focus on data modernization, accelerating digital transformation.
As Gartner says, “Agility in data management has become a priority for organizations in the current distributed, complex, and diverse business environment. Thus, to reduce overall costs and human errors, data and analytics experts should shift towards next-gen solutions like AI-enabled data integration and avoid using traditional data management practices.”
Therefore, to upscale in the current competitive business world, it becomes crucial to modernize the assets to attain better data-driven business opportunities.
Overview of Data Modernization
Data modernization is not just about transforming legacy data architecture into a cloud-based data warehouse, it is a crucial tool for businesses to stay competitive and efficient in a rapidly changing technological environment. It is about realizing the true value of data and using it to improve the agility and scalability of business processes. The process involves optimizing data accessibility, security, and reliability to ensure that data-driven results are actionable and accurate.
It also involves migrating data from legacy systems to technologically advanced and scalable platforms like cloud-based systems. The process enhances data storage ability, improves the speed and efficiency of data processing, and enables organizations to gain deep insight by using modern data analytics tools and AI, leading to informed business decision-making processes. With the increasing data privacy and security concerns, data modernization emphasises data governance and compliance to enable data systems to comply with regulatory standards, thus protecting sensitive information from unauthorized access and breaches. It provides businesses with a platform to access, analyze, and manage data to deliver data-driven outcomes.
For instance, GameStop is a good example of data modernization, which was successfully shifted to Google Cloud by Google itself. Earlier, GameStop used legacy data warehouses in which data was distributed within multiple clouds. The goal here was to modernize and eliminate the data silos scattered among different databases and the ETL systems facilitating those systems and merge them into a cloud-native Google solution. The whole process was finished within months, and as a result, GameStop became fully functional on Google Cloud.
Key Attributes of Data Modernization
According to an Accenture survey, 32% of companies outlined the measurable and tangible benefits of data, and according to MIT Sloan’s analytics experts survey, 67% said that the organizational environment is the main obstacle in becoming a data-driven business. Based on these stats, let’s explore the four key attributes of data modernization that every business should focus on to implement the process seamlessly:
Alignment with Business Goals
Companies often start data projects without realizing the value they will bring to their work strategy. They don’t understand that business strategy is not driven by technical decisions but vice versa. That’s why companies should thoroughly analyze what goals they are trying to achieve when initiating a data modernization project and how much closer it will bring to achieving their business objectives.
Real-time Processing with AI
The ability to analyze and process data in real-time is crucial in today’s digital business environment. It allows companies to make business decisions based on updated information, enhancing agility and responsiveness. By leveraging AI algorithms on data platforms, companies can gain crucial data insights and automate processes, leading to high accuracy.
Data Accessibility and Integration
Data silos are a major barrier to informed decision-making. With modern data infrastructure, businesses can integrate data from scattered sources, making it easily accessible to organizational stakeholders. It leads to better collaboration between departments and faster insights. Transitioning to the cloud also offers scalability across business operations, ensuring that organizations can manage data growth without hampering performance.
Integration with Cloud
Cloud systems are essential in digital modernization, allowing businesses to utilize cost-saving, flexibility, and scalability. Modern data platforms can easily integrate with cloud systems while organizations still have admin rights over their data. These platforms are scalable, and organizations can leverage cloud computing benefits like real-time data processing and analytics.
5 Reasons Why Data Modernization is Crucial for Digital Transformation
Data fragmentation is a traditional way of managing data among legacy systems, cloud-based systems, data stores, and applications. Analytics tools struggle to provide deep insights when businesses continue to use outdated data handling methods, and data silos often lead to failures in analytics projects. Data modernization ensures that business applications are scalable, enabling effective management and leveraging of data while staying technically updated. Let’s look into some of the reasons for implementing data modernization to make digital transformation projects successful:
Robust Compliance and Data Security
Modern technologies and data platforms provide access to robust compliance and data security protocols against cyber threats, data breaches, and unauthorized access. Implementing security measures such as audit trails, encryption, and access controls will ensure sensitive information’s integrity, confidentially, and availability. Automated monitoring and reporting make it easy to manage industry-specific compliances and standards. Thus, modernized data structures allow businesses to protect their data assets, avoid legal and reputational risks, and build user trust.
Improved Performance and Highly Scalable
Being an integral part of app modernization, modern data structures allow businesses to handle larger volumes of information easily, enhancing scalability and performance. It includes using modern technologies like cloud-based solutions (NoSQL, Hadoop, Databricks, etc.) to enable efficient analysis and processing of unstructured data, thus contributing to cost reduction and improved performance.
Enhanced Predictive Analysis
Predictive analysis is a trademark in data modernization. It enables businesses to predict upcoming trends and results by analyzing past and real-time data. By utilizing the data, they can make better decisions, such as managing the supply chain based on customer demand or rectifying errors by analyzing gaps in data patterns. Organizations can stay one step ahead with enhanced predictive analysis and design business strategies accordingly.
Rapid Data Retrieval
Legacy systems are complex and slow, making it difficult for individuals to access data efficiently and easily. Implementing modern data architecture enables faster retrieval and accessibility, allowing businesses to make real-time decisions by analyzing data. This, in turn, improves productivity, enhances customer experience with shorter response times, and supports agile business processes.
Data Quality Improvement
One of the primary benefits of data modernization is the enhancement of data quality. As inconsistent data could result in bad decision-making, modern data platforms allow organizations to analyze, identify, and correct data errors quickly and efficiently. As a result, superior data quality, such as customer-related information, can help businesses provide better customer service.
Conclusion
Data modernization is a crucial business strategy for organizations to remain agile in the rapidly changing digital environment. From upgrading legacy systems to cloud-based solutions to utilizing real-time data to enhance business operations, customer experience, and decision-making, data modernization plays a significant role. The process involves integrating AI and cloud technologies for scalable decision-making solutions and addressing data governance and privacy issues. However, in order to implement data modernization for a successful digital transformation, companies should partner with a reliable QA provider who can assist them with scalable data migration testing.
How can TestingXperts Help with a Successful Data Modernization Process?
TestingXperts is one of the leading QA providers that helps in the successful data modernization process with its seamless data testing services. With their expertise in next-gen IT solutions like RPA, AI, and Cloud, TestingXperts helps businesses solve the complexities of modern data infrastructure. Partnering with TestingXperts will give you the following benefits
• Extensive experience with end-to-end data migration validation projects.
• Customized approach to ensure data quality at various phases of the ETL process.
• Partnership with QuerySurge to automate the Extract, Transform, and Load verification process.
• Highly skilled Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence professionals for designing test strategies and project execution.
• Cost-effective and flexible solution for your DW ETL testing needs.
• Facilitate migration to cloud systems with extensive data testing to leverage cloud-based solutions’ flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and scalability.
• Strong emphasis on compliance and security protocols during the modernization process.
To know more, contact our QA experts now.