Data is the new Application

This is a quote from Frank Bien, CEO of Looker (recently acquired by Google). He said, "Data is now fundamental to how people work and the most successful companies have intelligently integrated it into everyone's daily workflow...Data is the new application".

This is stating the obvious as data is now equated to the new oil, electricity, oxygen, etc.. For those of us in the data management business for last four plus decades, this is music as we used to spread the gospel of data to deaf ears in the past. Data was an afterthought at most enterprises. Even when the executives agreed on the importance of data, very little was done towards treating it as a crucial asset like money or people or process.

Things have changed now with the era of Big Data which fuels AI. The following is a view from IDC on the digitization of the world:

• The data-driven world will be always on, always tracking, always monitoring, always listening & always watching – because it will be always learning.
• What we perceive to be randomness will be bounded into patterns of normality by sophisticated AI algorithms that will deliver the future in new & personalized ways.
• AI will drive even more automation into businesses & feed processes & engagements that will deliver new levels of efficiency & products that are tailored to business outcomes & individual customer preferences.
• Today, companies are leveraging data to improve customer experiences, open new markets, make employees & processes more productive & create new sources of competitive advantage.
• Traditional paradigms will be redefined (like vehicle or white good ownership) & ethical, moral & societal norms will be challenged

Gartner's view of the 21st. century is the rise of data-driven digital business - where data forms the core capability of the digital business. What does that mean?

• To manage its people, a digital company needs a HR function to manage recruitment, skills, and people retention.
• To manage its information technology, it needs an IT function to ensure its technology investment supports its business aspirations.
• To manage its processes, it needs Process Management function to drive the design and deployment of its automated and manual processes.
• To manage its data, it needs Data Management function to develop and improve its data assets to underpin its People, Process & Technology functions.

Hence digital transformation can only happen when data-centric actions are taken seriously.