Big Data Balance

The 2017 Gartner Symposium in Barcelona was pretty impressive. Of all the hot topics discussed, 3 major themes emerged.

#1 Cloud is King

Whereas the organizational cloud footprint used to include just a few applications which end users had successfully lobbied for (Salesforce, etc.), it’s now comprised of a much broader pool of enterprise content.  Entire on-premises operations are now being migrated to the cloud.  Even the most regulated and paranoid organizations—those who’d once scoffed at the stupidity of launching data into a third-party’s unknown—are taking advantage of the savings it affords.

The question is no longer whether to fear or embrace the cloud. Organizations are instead asking what kind of information governance architecture would best suit their needs, which vendor they should partner with, and which, if any, functions should stay on-premises.

#2 Big Data is Just Data

A petabyte just isn’t what it used to be. I mean, it’s obviously still the same technically speaking, but processing and storing such quantities of data is no longer an unreasonable request. Organizations—especially those that rely on heavy data analysis for marketing, pricing, risk modeling, etc.—have access to absurd data volumes that reside inside the organization and in external sources.

The good news is that deep learning techniques and other advanced analytics have matured to a point where all of this data can be used in a productive manner and drive real ROI. The bad news is that this data is not typically managed in a way that protects the corporation or its customers from risk.

We see a ton of data moving to the cloud, but that data is being sourced from too many places to make controlling it easy. For too many organizations, governance is secondary, making life difficult for legal, privacy, RIM, and compliance/risk.

#3 Data Security, Privacy, and Governance Are Having Their Day

The typical organization is now significantly wary about the risk their data poses. Whereas legal risk has always brought about some level of diligence, new policies like those underlined in the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), are starting to garner real attention at the executive level.  Pair that with public outcry over recent security breaches and reports of data misuse by major corporations... suddenly budget's available.

Finding Balance

The organizations who find balance are those who are investing as much in governing their content as they are on creating and using it to drive their business forward.

At Gartner, ZL focused most of our discussions on how we’ve helped organizations, especially those in the EU, maintain strong control of their data even amidst its rapid growth. A rapidly expanding unstructured data footprint shouldn’t excuse a lack of control.

We now look forward to continuing that conversation outside of Barcelona and invite you to reach out and connect!

Big Data cloud Events Gartner information governance

I’m a University of Michigan grad, where I studied chemistry and statistics. Unsurprisingly, my work is now in the tech field as a Client Implementations Lead at ZL. Outside of work, I surround myself with good music and good friends. A well-seasoned traveler, my interests span the affairs of many cultures, with the sole exception of Ohio. I would like to note, however, that Ohio does boast top notch highway service plazas, which make it one of the best states to drive straight through. Today, much of my time is spent driving through the golden hills of the bay area. I miss pond hockey, rainfall, and occasionally the eastern time zone. But In-and-Out sooths the pain.