‘Data Estates’ and the importance of automating them

Data remains to be a prized possession in any corporation – so valuable that it has been dubbed the oil of the digital economy.

It is through insights obtained from data that company executives and other employees can make excellent decisions. Being the case, it is expected that real-time data access by authorized personnel should help companies realize their objectives. Getting to this point is the tricky part as it requires following a specific approach.

Data within a corporation requires a supporting ‘infrastructure’ to facilitate the processes of mining and turning it into valuable insight. These infrastructures that systematically manage corporate data are termed as ‘Data Estates’. They can either be built in the cloud, on-premises, or hybrid i.e. a combination of both.

The volume of data corporations handle becomes massive as they grow, necessitating a contemporary data estate. The bright side of all this is that there are capable technologies that can help organizations build out data estates.

As a rule of thumb, the success of a corporation hinges on the maturity of its data infrastructure. This is especially the case in competitive environments where data plays a crucial role.

Designing and implementing a data estate

There are three key components involved in developing a data estate.

The central data hub

 The first and arguably most important is the central data hub. It helps consolidate all corporate data and link data sources to clients. A data hub acts as the central platform where the integration of data occurs to maintain a single version of truth in an organization. Think of it as a base for storing, sourcing, cataloguing, indexing, and processing data.

Data hubs also break down the data generated by a business and allow for swift-moving & modelling of data. A data hub is indispensable as it enables a corporation to deploy iterations as well as innovative technologies. Companies can additionally define user roles for specific types of data access to promote security and privacy.

Automation

Automation is the keystone that helps save your time and resources. It helps model data quickly and efficiently. Automation is crucial in streamlining and accelerating data preparation, loading, and transformation. In the process, it does away with manual coding and repetitive mundane tasks. Lastly, it offers rapid documentation to promote data governance and enable firms to achieve compliance.

Here are some of the ways automation can revolutionize your business:

1.      It helps generate scripts automatically and keep them updated to the latest events to accurately show the names of fields and sources that have changed.

2.      Allows you to make calculations and reuse them throughout the entire solution

3.      The automatic creation of documentation maintains a record of which data items move and where they move. This is vital when it comes to satisfying audit and compliance requirements. Note that you’ll still have the task of going through the documentation.

4.      It eliminates the need to rebuild when migrating from outdated technologies to new ones

5.      Automation allows for fast and accurate detection of changes in data structures and simplifies the maintenance task

With automation, you won't have to worry about tedious tasks like documenting and grasping data lineage.

Going to the cloud

The last step is moving to the cloud. Too much data can be a problem, more so, if not managed properly. Instead of deleting some of the data from time to time, you can opt for a solution that manages the data wholly.

Cloud is the most viable and convenient option out of those available. The main advantage of cloud is that you only pay for what you need. This allows you to focus on work as there are only minimal to zero disruptive accessibility delays.

Wrap Up

Having a data estate is essential during this digital age as it significantly contributes to the success of your firm. With a data estate, it is easier to collect and manage your data. Automation further advances the capability of leveraging this data to make better decisions. Besides, it frees up the workload of tech staff and the IT department in general, allowing them to focus on other productive tasks.

Feel free to contact us to discuss your data needs and automation [email protected]