In recent years, a series of global shocks – from the COVID-19 pandemic to geopolitical tensions like the Russia-Ukraine conflict – has disrupted industries worldwide, including healthcare, technology, retail, and manufacturing. These disruptions have propelled businesses into initiating or accelerating digital transformation efforts aimed at bolstering supply chain resilience. Such transformations can take considerable time before outcomes can be realized. Still, businesses are compelled to reevaluate their operational strategies and embrace digital adaptability to navigate and thrive amidst future disruptions.
COOs, CFOs, and other leaders face the monumental task of steering their organizations through the turbulent waters of digital transformation. The key to not just surviving but thriving in this era hinges on a business’s ability to make agile, informed decisions based on comprehensive, up-to-date data. Often, the fear that data may not be accurate, complete, or timely impedes them from making bold decisions. To overcome this, they need access to reliable sources of data to back their strategies and be fearless with data. This is where the transformative capabilities of data fabric comes into play to enhance operational efficiency, agility, and resilience.
Building a Data Fabric for Real-Time 360-degree Operational Visibility
Imagine data fabric as a seamless weave of all an organization’s data – across sources, locations, networks, devices, and formats – accessible through a single, intuitive interface. This unified layer simplifies data complexity, enabling leaders to make swift, informed decisions based on a comprehensive view of real-time, standardized data by establishing rich data semantics and governance principles. It democratizes access to insights, ensuring that strategic decisions are backed by the most accurate and timely information available.
Leverage a Digital Twin to Drive Efficiency
In a real-world example, Estes Express Lines leveraged the Denodo Platform, a logical data management solution, to create a logistics digital twin. This initiative enabled Estes to establish a data fabric with virtual representations of every piece of freight in motion, which made this logistical information easily accessible to any authorized stakeholder within the organization. Consequently, by integrating data logically across multiple collection points, Estes effectively dismantled data silos. This not only streamlined operations but also relieved drivers from redundant data entry tasks – a role they never signed up for. Impressively, the Denodo Platform has already realized a 10% savings in infrastructure and labor costs for Estes by eliminating unnecessary data duplication and freeing data from silos.
Build Data Products to Optimize Operations
Consider another example in which a global leader in mining, recognized as one of the top two in the world, had sought to enhance operational efficiency across its diverse mining operations spread over multiple geographies. The firm embarked on consolidating knowledge and real-time data sharing across its commodities, aiming to understand discrepancies in production outcomes and share best practices. However, connecting disparate data sources was challenging, and different teams were creating multiple copies of the same data, which resulted in security, governance, and resourcing issues. By deploying the Denodo Platform, the company connected over ten critical data sources across mineral-specific clusters, forming a data fabric. This fabric enabled a unified global data access layer, enabling near-real-time access to data without physical movement, across their extensive operations. The result was an agile, efficient, and more informed decision-making process, significantly impacting worker safety and improving yields and logistics planning from pit to port.
Securing a Competitive Advantage for Disruptions
Data fabric enables leaders to identify opportunities, mitigate risks, and adapt to market changes with confidence. Crucially, built-in governance and security measures safeguard sensitive information, ensuring compliance with ever-evolving regulations. For businesses striving to remain competitive in a world of constant disruption, adopting a data fabric approach is not just beneficial – it’s essential.
Drawing on his extensive experience across diverse industry verticals, Addy is eager to share lessons learned and success stories related to IT modernization, Customer 360, self-service analytics, operational resilience, building a data-driven culture, and establishing effective data governance.
His career, spanning tech startups and high-growth companies across four countries and three continents, gives him a global perspective and an adaptable approach to problem-solving. Addy holds an MBA from AIM Manila and an Honors degree in Computer Science Engineering, which gives him a unique edge in bridging technical know-how with business insights.
- Navigating Disruptions with Operational Agility and Resilience - March 20, 2024