Investing in a business data fabric architecture: Strategic goals and ROI
A DIY approach might seem tempting, but there’s another choice that’s a lot more strategic.
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A business data fabric is a data management architecture that delivers an integrated, semantically-rich data layer over underlying data landscapes to provide seamless and scalable access to data without duplication. By investing in a robust business data fabric, you facilitate access to information that can improve decision-making, optimise operational efficiency, and increase business agility and innovation. In this article, we’ll look at the strategic importance of a business data fabric, compare a DIY approach with SAP Datasphere, and discuss why a well-structured business data fabric is crucial for the success of enterprise organisations.
The strategic value of a business data fabric
A business data fabric serves as an architecture that allows you to connect, manage, and govern data in disparate formats across diverse systems and applications in real-time. It simplifies the complexity of data storage by presenting a unified view, ensuring consistent and trustworthy information.
The strength of a business data fabric lies in its ability to integrate data from multiple sources—whether on-premises, cloud-based, or hybrid environments—into a single, cohesive layer. This integration not only streamlines data management but also empowers you to derive meaningful insights on a larger scale. By enriching data with business context and logic, a business data fabric enables more informed decision-making, fosters innovation, and allows for swift responses to market changes.
As organisations’ data estates grow, the need to scale data operations seamlessly becomes vital. A well-implemented data fabric supports this scalability, ensuring that you can continue to leverage your data effectively, regardless of its volume or variety. This scalability, combined with real-time access to reliable data, makes a business data fabric an essential component of any modern digital strategy.
DIY vs. SAP Datasphere: A comparative analysis
Constructing a data fabric is a considerable endeavour when opting for a do-it-yourself (DIY) approach. Creating a DIY data fabric can involve assembling various tools and technologies, each responsible for different aspects of data integration, management, and governance. While this approach offers flexibility, it can also entail high upfront costs, prolonged deployment timelines, ongoing maintenance challenges, and the potential for missteps during implementation that could compromise the effectiveness of the data fabric.
SAP Datasphere presents a streamlined alternative that simplifies the entire process of building and managing a data fabric. One of the most compelling advantages of SAP Datasphere is its cost-effectiveness. According to a GigaOm field study, organisations that opt for SAP Datasphere over a DIY implementation path can achieve up to 138% savings in total cost of ownership (TCO) over three years. These savings result from reduced technical resource requirements, lower integration costs, and the elimination of hidden expenses often associated with DIY solutions.
Operational efficiency is another area where SAP Datasphere excels. While a DIY data fabric can take months to plan, integrate, and test, using SAP Datasphere to build a data fabric significantly accelerates this timeline. Its out-of-the-box integration capabilities and automated processes reduce the complexity of setup and ongoing management, so you can focus more on innovation and less on infrastructure.
Scalability is also a key consideration. While a DIY approach may meet current needs, maintaining and scaling such a system as data volumes grow can become increasingly challenging. SAP Datasphere is designed to grow with your business, offering a scalable architecture that can manage increasing data demands without constant reconfiguration or upgrades. This approach ensures that your data fabric remains relevant and effective as your business and data landscape evolve.
Use cases and business impact
Business data fabrics benefit organisations across various industries. Here’s how SAP Datasphere can make a positive impact in different sectors:
- Large retailers could integrate customer data from in-store purchases, online behaviours, and social media interactions into a single view. By enabling personalised shopping experiences, dynamic inventory management, and precise marketing campaigns, retailers could help increase customer loyalty and reduce costs.
- Global manufacturers might use SAP Datasphere to integrate data from IoT sensors and supply chain systems. This would facilitate real-time production monitoring, predictive maintenance, and optimised schedules, enhancing efficiency and minimising downtime.
- Financial institutions could create a unified view of their data that ensures accurate, consistent data for regulatory reporting, risk management, and AI-driven investment strategies, helping provide a competitive edge in a fast-paced market.
The strategic way forward
While a DIY approach might seem tempting, the benefits offered by SAP Datasphere, including cost savings, operational efficiency, and scalability, can make it the more strategic choice. A business data fabric can help your business grow and evolve as quickly as the world around it.