Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2021. Read them in this 13th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
DataOps Efficiency During COVID, the Rise of Data Stewards, and More
By Ben Sharma, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer, Zaloni, Inc.
2020 has gone down in the history books for the chaotic disruption it
has brought to the world. The global pandemic headlined the vast majority of
the year, throwing curveballs that proved the importance of adaptability and
perseverance during such uncertain times. The new year holds a glimpse of the
old normalcy that people are desperately craving, but 2021 also opens up the
opportunity to build upon and improve the new normal in the digital and data spaces.
At Zaloni, we have curated a handful of data trend predictions for the new
year, emphasizing an increase in data management vendors, the rise of influence
for Data Stewards, and the importance of incorporating a DataOps approach to
improve data efficiency and usage.
1) Data stewards will rise in influence. As the need for better data governance standardization, automation,
and security grows in prioritization, so will the importance of the data
steward role. Data stewards sit at the nexus of data governance, data security,
DataOps, and AI/ML enablement efforts and will increasingly have opportunities
to improve outcomes for both data engineers and data analysts.
The pandemic
has only heightened companies' need to have ready access to timely, accurate, and relevant data. The data steward is best positioned to act as the guardian of
both secure data protection and better analytic outcomes. If 2020 brought IT and
Analytics teams together, 2021 promises to advance these relationships through
more reliance on data stewards.
2) Use of customer data exchanges will increasingly displace direct-buying. 2020 saw growth in both customer data platforms, like Segment, as well as the data
marketplaces offered by the cloud service providers, like AWS. While many
companies still purchase 3rd party data directly from the data brokers
themselves, 2021 will see more activity via the data marketplaces that offer
the benefits of broad data discovery, direct connections with the cloud service
providers, and some data deduplication capabilities. Largely missing from most
of this transformation are data governance and management functions, which will
need to cooperate with the customer data exchanges to ensure data security,
quality, and democratization.
3) Data management vendors will continue to multiply. Consolidation will occur, but overall numbers will expand as
enterprises build increasingly complex data architectures, adopt hybrid cloud
ecosystems, and address data supply chain inefficiencies. The majority of vendors that offer unique value will remain, and those that address new data supply chain barriers
will emerge.
The data
management market has a long way to go before reaching maturity, and much
opportunity exists across the data preparation, data governance, and data
consumption areas.
4) DataOps efficiency will become critical as COVID-19 advances. With cases on the rise, several vaccines in late-stage trials, and
consumer behaviors shifted to heavy reliance on eCommerce, the pandemic will
continue to put pressure on relevant industries, including pharma, healthcare,
insurance, manufacturing, and logistics, to more effectively manage massive
amounts of time-sensitive data.
COVID-19
treatments and vaccine development made timely data analysis, management, and
governance key
in 2020, and this importance will grow in 2021 as
vaccine production, distribution, and analysis reach massive numbers of people
worldwide.
In parallel,
as cases rise over the winter and holiday season, consumers will escalate their
online shopping activity. Companies with data supply chains that can act on
timely customer signals and behaviors, use predictive analytics for marketing
purposes, and work across data sources to derive insights will capture more
digital buying opportunities.
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About the Author
Ben
Sharma is the Co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Zaloni, a published
author, and holds two patents for his innovative Big Data, Enterprise
Infrastructure, and Analytics solutions. His impressive range of knowledge
across data and business software disciplines has led him to leadership roles
at leading companies like Fujitsu and NetApp before Zaloni.