The integration of an enterprise data quality platform into business applications and real-time processes is critical to support the increasing demand for near real-time analytics, says Gary Allemann,senior consultant at Master Data Management.
Boris Evelson, principal analyst and VP at Forrester Research, suggests that delivery will be a primary focus for business intelligence (BI) projects in 2012, and a number of these are relevant to the data quality community.
He predicts that enterprise standards will not be allowed to stand in the way of delivery, pointing out that specialised data quality tools with the functionality to get things done will trump architecture standards.
Allemann notes that leading IT departments are taking cognisance of the fact that the traditional reliance on a few big vendors that, according to Gartner, are focused on protecting the status quo rather than on delivering new value, is insufficient to meet the enterprise data quality needs, and they are turning to specialist platforms.
He also believes that BI will move into the hands of end-users, but that this self-service element must be controlled and managed at an appropriate level.
“This continues a trend that has been developing over the last few years in the data quality space, particularly within leading organisations that recognise the importance of business user involvement in data quality and data governance projects, as it enables business projects to remain relevant in the face of changing external circumstances,” notes Allemann.
Estelle de Beer, practice manager, BI practice at Sybase, urges companies to recognise the importance of timely, accurate information, available to all user communities.
“This recognition will translate into a possible change in the current IT roles and infrastructure to allow a company to exploit its corporate pool of information.”
She adds that business end-users have become very mature in their expectation of how, when and where to have access to data. However, she explains, the users are not concerned with the IT challenges that this may impose, as they have their own deliverables.
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