How big data aids digital transformation | 7wData

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The term "big data" first emerged fifteen years ago to put a name to the increasingly large, diverse, and complex volumes of data that could not be easily managed by traditional data management practices. In recent years, as digital transformation picked up steam, big data has emerged as a primary fuel for the journey.

“The ability to analyze vast amounts of structured and unstructured data to gain insights, often in real time, is what underpins most digital transformation efforts, as the insight derived through big data analytics is used to drive digitization and automation of workflows,” says Rahul Singh, managing director of IT and business services transformation advisory firm Pace Harmon.

In addition, digital transformation emerged in part as organizations sought to make the best use of these growing troves of data assets. “Digital transformation is about transforming your organization to base its decisions on data, and big data is the ability to capture all the available data an organization can produce or consume,” explains Todd Wright, head of data management at SAS. “Capturing all the available data – big data ­– is essential to digital transformation efforts.”

IT organizations can certainly leverage big data purely for reporting and process improvement purposes. However, Singh explains, “The true value comes from the ability to combine big data with digital transformation efforts to enable digitization and automation of entire operations to drive efficiencies and new business models.” As Prashant Kelker, partner for digital strategy and solutions at technology research and advisory firm ISG, likes to say: “Digital transformation is the path. Big data is one of the means.”

Big data, at its best, can shine a light on otherwise dark corners of the enterprise. “Large amounts of well-managed data will deliver a better understanding of operations, customers, and markets when integrated within an analytics or AI program,” says Wright of SAS. “The bottom line is that for digital transformation to be truly successful and achieve the best insights for business goals, as much data as possible is essential.”

Big data on its own is useless without a well-thought-out idea or program to make use of it. “Digital transformation provides that idea and program,” says Wright of SAS. “As for whether big data is required for digital transformation, the more data that goes into a digital transformation program, the better the results.”

When the two converge, real change becomes possible. As the number of IoT devices, wearables, smartphones, and other machine sensors grows, so too does the amount of data they generate – to an exponential degree. “The combination of this IoT data, big data analytics capabilities, and digital transformation allows companies to not just adjust in near real time to customer needs but also predict future behavior of their consumers,” says Singh of Pace Harmon.

Ronak Doshi, vice president at management consultancy and research firm Everest Group, notes that along with the growing proliferation of internet-connected devices, evolving data-driven digital business models, as well as an increase in globally connected business ecosystems and integrated value chains, demand that enterprises build a modular but cohesive digital platform, powered by big data gathered from a variety of sources.