54 VIEWPOINT Data underpins any digital transformation project. Data can tell you which products to build, which business models to pursue and what customer experiences can be created. For that reason, it is critical that data becomes an enterprise-wide strategy adopted by every department of the business, not just something embraced by top leadership. However, there are a range of challenges that organisations may face when modernising their data estate and building a data-focused strategy. For example, data may lie within a sprawl of applications, that ends up in multiple data silos. This can make it difficult for the organisation to arrive at a single version of truth. There can also be challenges related to data governance. For data to fuel business outcomes, it must be readily available, relevant and of high quality. Furthermore, when organisations are managing massive amounts of data from various sources, they must remain aware of privacy, regulations and security. Modernising your data estate begins with a broader data strategy across the organisation that ties in both short- and long-term business goals. Then, based on that strategy, the organisation needs to decide on the data architecture, whether it’s a data fabric, a data lake, a data mesh or something else. It is also essential to ensure that data collaboration across the enterprise can happen seamlessly, especially when there are multiple different sources. A reliable data delivery model, whether data as a service or data as a product, can help data be monetised by the business teams as and when needed. For data insights to drive critical decision-making, trust in the data is key. Organisations need to create a unified view that unlocks full data observability in complex distributed environments and deliver data that can be trusted. Finally, organisations should focus on how to make their data profitable. Good applications of data can generate insights that lead to better customer experience and operational efficiency. For organisations looking for help with modernising their data estate, Microsoft offers a very rich ecosystem of platforms-as-a-service that suit the needs of any organisation. Solutions such as Microsoft Synapse Analytics, Microsoft Purview and Microsoft Fabric are all valuable for the data estate modernisation process. Naveen Kamat is vice president and chief technology officer of data and artificial intelligence services at Kyndryl Modernising a data estate can be a daunting task for some organisations, but the right strategy can show promising results NAVEEN KAMAT: KYNDRYL Key steps towards building a data-driven enterprise “Modernising your data estate begins with a broader data strategy across the organisation”
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