Ten Things You Need to Know About Cross-enterprise Data Exchange Platforms

Introduction?

Winners in today’s information-driven society will be the ones to drive the most value from data – both internal and external.

However, while the benefits of exchanging data are many, the barriers are also many. And as such, organizations often find it difficult to exchange data across enterprise boundaries and thus forego these benefits.?

Cross-enterprise data exchange platforms are a new cloud software category designed to remove these barriers. This paper introduces the cross-enterprise data exchange platform and answers the most frequently asked questions about this fast-growing cloud software solution.??

1. Why share data with other organizations in the first place?

Good things happen when data is shared.??

When a farmer shares crop data with a farm equipment supplier,

• The farmer can apply precision farming techniques to achieve higher yields.
• The equipment supplier can provide a more complete and competitive offering.
• And society gets more food from fewer resources (water, fertilizer, and pesticide).

When a financial services firm shares compliance data with government regulators,

• The financial services firm avoids costly audits and non-compliance fines.
• The government agency ensures regulatory compliance and that consumers are fully protected.?
• And society avoids systemic risks to the economy.?

When valuable data is a by-product of an enterprise,

• The enterprise can generate a new revenue stream by selling this data.
• The enterprise’s customers can take advantage of this new data-driven offering.
• And society gains the benefits of this additional commerce.

These are just a few win-win-win scenarios made possible when sharing data across enterprises.??

2. Why is exchanging data often difficult to do?

With so many win-win-win opportunities, what holds organizations back? Several barriers make cross-enterprise data exchange difficult.

• Diversity: No two data-sharing agreements are alike. Business terms vary widely, as do the source and consumer data types, connections, structures, formats, and the unique transformations required to resolve these differences.?
• Security: Beyond the complex connections and transformations required, myriad other data-related factors must be considered, such as security, privacy, and consent.?
• Service Level Expectations: Highly reliable and scalable data exchange operations, 24x7x365, are necessary.?
• Many Players: Many individuals in business, IT, and security must complete the data exchange process from negotiation through renewal, increasing your communication and coordination issues.?
• Incomplete Tools: Typical data-sharing tools and methods are only partial solutions designed to address the technical side of the problem without addressing business and security requirements.??

3. Why not keep exchanging data the way you always have?

Legacy approaches to sharing data across enterprise boundaries fail to meet today’s complex requirements.

• Manual processes bound with human glue are often brittle, error-prone, and won’t scale. You should be able to automate your complex exchange processes from start to finish. And while you are at it, you should have visibility and control over every step.
• Tools such as FTP, APIs, and custom coding often fail to consider essential business requirements such as contract terms, security, scalability, and governance. You require a complete platform that handles everything you need to do the job.?
• Unaligned project teams waste time and money organizing and tracking activities rather than doing them. Your internal and external teams should be able to collaborate successfully without wasted effort.?

If you are like most organizations, the result is that you reinvent the wheel every time you need to share data slowing delivery and adding extra costs.?

Rather than continue to stretch your old tools, would it not be better to meet your business and technical needs with a purpose-built data exchange platform in the cloud?

4. What does a cross-enterprise data exchange platform provide that my current tools and processes do not??

From a business point of view, data exchange platforms help you:

• Become business-led from negotiation through renewal.
• Ensure you meet user access, data sovereignty, governance, auditing, and other business requirements.
• Deliver faster, then review and renew your agreement quickly when needed.

From a technical point of view, data exchange platforms help you:

• Align your business, technical, and security activities from start to finish.
• Automate transformation, security, privacy, consent, scale, failover, and other technical requirements.
• Complete the entire job with less effort.

As a result, you are more?

• Successful: Your contract agreements and business teams drive technology delivery, not the other way around
• Consistent: All your data transfers leverage the same methods and technology, making them easier to create and support.?
• Vigilant: An end-to-end data exchange that integrates management and security capabilities to provide the visibility and control you require.
• Transparent: You always know what’s happening and can highlight and avoid trouble before it hits.

5.?How does a cross-enterprise data exchange platform such as Eightwire work??

The Eightwire Data Exchange Platform automates complex, cross-enterprise data-sharing processes, including

• Negotiation Process: Turn your business agreements into technical requirements.
• Build Process: Develop, test, and deploy all required connections and transformations.
• Run Process: Execute your feeds reliably, at scale.
• Manage Process: Monitor activities and quickly respond if problems arise.
• Review & Renew Process: Keep up-to-date with ever-changing business and technical needs.

6. What should you look for in a cross-enterprise data exchange platform??

When evaluating a data exchange platform such as Eightwire, consider the following essential capabilities.?

• Automated Processes: Sharing data across enterprises is complicated, and legacy data exchange methods and tools leave many gaps. Eightwire automates complex, cross-enterprise data exchange processes from negotiation through renewal. One platform powers all your feeds, processes, tools, and teams. And it scales with you to ensure highly reliable operations as your workloads grow.?
• Team-Driven: Data sharing across enterprise boundaries is a team sport that can be difficult to win. With Eightwire, your data-sharing agreements drive everyone and everything. Role-based capabilities empower diverse roles, including business analysts, product managers, developers, operators, and security staff. And Eightwire provides the necessary visibility to improve cooperation across internal and external teams.?
• Secure and Controlled: Bad things can happen when data crosses enterprise boundaries. Eightwire protects you, with governance and security built into every step. Eightwire authentication, authorization, and encryption secure both parties’ proprietary data, while privacy and consent controls protect sensitive data.

7. What are the business benefits of a cross-enterprise data exchange platform?

Once you implement a cross-enterprise data exchange platform, your organization will enjoy the following benefits:

• Deliver more business impact sooner: Whatever your data-sharing objective, you will achieve it faster with Eightwire’s data exchange platform. Shorten the time between contractual agreement and implementation, onboard new organizations and feeds faster, and revise and renew contracts as quickly as your business changes.
• Slash costs via optimized data sharing processes: Automate more data exchange requirements, create consistency and scale across organizations and feeds, and avoid failure to deliver, privacy, and consent penalties.
• Build stronger relationships where everyone wins: Collaborate professionally within your organization and across organizational boundaries, act transparently,?deliver on your promises, and be easier to do business with.

8. Who gains the most from a data exchange platform implementation?

Data exchanges deliver significant value to multiple department leaders, including?

• Executive Leadership: Your Executive Team can build strategies that drive more value from your internal and external data.
• Product Managers: Your Product Managers can deliver data-enabled products and services faster and reduce delivery and technology risks through automation driven by data-sharing agreements.
• Chief Data Officers: Your Chief Data Officer and data engineering staff can ensure data is exchanged across enterprise boundaries properly and be changed efficiently when your business needs change.
• Chief Security Officers: Your CSO can provide robust security for data feeds beyond simple FTP and manual controls and gain visibility over every feed, so you always know what is going where.
• Privacy Lead: Your Data Privacy Leader can ensure you comply with GDPR, CCPA, and other privacy legislation, closing the loop between agreements and technical implementation.

9. Does Eightwire provide a cross-enterprise data exchange platform?

Yes. Eightwire pioneered the cross-enterprise data exchange platform category. Proven at large enterprises and government agencies globally, Eightwire is the market leader.?

Available in the cloud, the Eightwire Data Exchange Platform automates complex data exchange processes so your teams can collaboratively share data across enterprise boundaries securely with control. Eightwire helps you deliver more significant business impact sooner, slash costs via optimized data-sharing processes, and build stronger relationships where everyone wins.

Beyond manual processes based on FTP, APIs, and custom-coding tools, Eightwire is a complete platform that supports all your requirements, including business terms, security, scalability, and governance.?

To learn more about Eightwire, a global company based in New Zealand, go to eight-wire.com

10. What does it take to get started with Eightwire???

Your Eightwire Data Exchange Platform can be live in just a few weeks.??

The first step is a one-hour presentation entitled Introduction to Cross-enterprise Data Exchange.?Here you will learn the core principles and capabilities that you can use to simplify data sharing across organizational boundaries.?

Next is an Opportunity Assessment, where you work with the Eightwire team to consider current data exchange platform opportunities, challenges, methods, and technologies.??

Then comes a Proof of Concept that demonstrates how Eightwire works in your environment, along with a Business Case that calculates your expected ROI.??

Once you decide to proceed, Procurement and Implementation quickly follow.

Conclusion:

For years, organizations have struggled to overcome the barriers when they have tried to exchange data across enterprise boundaries.

Cross-enterprise data exchange platforms directly address these barriers. This Eightwire white paper provides ten things you need to know about cross-enterprise data exchange platforms.?

Use it as a starting point on your journey to tremendous data-sharing success.?

Safe travels.?