Forward-looking companies are exploring ways to integrate large volumes of structured and unstructured data so they can access information from a single point for faster and more effective decision-making.
This is the view of local business intelligence (BI) vendor, Enterprise Worx. Sean Paine, the company's chief operations officer, says businesses should have a data strategy in place if they are to properly manage the data explosion characterising many organisations.
According to a recent IDC research report, more than 75% of businesses internationally are seeking ways to merge structured and unstructured information, or are already deploying information access software to achieve this.
According to the report, “impatient with their siloed approach to information, organisations are looking for ways to make it easier and faster to find, merge and understand the information that is scattered today across applications and servers. Search vendors need to add data analysis, visualisation and reporting capabilities that include structured as well as unstructured data”.
The research firm also notes that BI and data warehousing systems need to add more features to improve language understanding, and they need to improve the speed with which new information is added and made searchable.
Paine believes it is important that organisations integrate their data if they are to stay ahead of competition. He notes that integration and ease of access is required to overcome organisations' siloed views of information. “Without integration, it is tough to make complete and reliable business conclusions,” Paine says.
Michael de Andrade, CEO of information solutions specialist, EnterpriseWorx, says IT managers need to think through where the data 'lands' and how it is consolidated.
“In the first instance, the data warehouse architecture must be structurally sound. To make integration a reality, you need to think upfront about which sources will talk to which targets, and then develop an architecture that allows data to flow.
“In large organisations, it may be necessary to set up an integration competency centre to align business and IT requirements and processes within the organisational framework,” says De Andrade.
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