Analyst Perspectives

Ventana Research recently announced its 2023 Market Agenda for Data, continuing the guidance we have offered for two decades to help organizations derive optimal value and improve business outcomes.

Organizations that make a higher proportion of business decisions based on data stand to gain competitive advantage, responding faster to worker and customer demands for more innovative, data-rich applications and personalized experiences. Being data-driven is clearly something to aspire to, but is easier said than done. Organizations of all sizes and industries are challenged to manage, govern and process an increasing torrent of data generated in many formats by a multitude of disparate sources, while at the same time increasing analytic agility and accelerating business decision-making. Doing so requires cultural and organizational change as well as the adoption of new technologies that enable new approaches. We assert that through 2026, 7 in 10 organizations will invest in organizational and leadership changes, maximizing executive support to accelerate data-driven business culture.

Ventana Research offers guidance on data and information management to help expand information competencies. In our research, we explore smarter persistence, computing, integration, virtualization, governance and preparation in order to uncover – and advocate for – new methods of using information effectively. Our Data expertise includes six focus areas: Analytic Data Platforms, Data Governance, Data Management, Data Operations, Operational Data Platforms and Streaming Data and Events. Our overarching Analytics and Data Benchmark Research along with our Data Governance Benchmark Research explore each of these topics, providing insights to guide decision-making.

Analytic Data Platforms

Analytic data platforms are designed to store, manage, process and query data, in support of business intelligence and data science initiatives across on-premises, hybrid and multicloud environments. Analytic data platforms include data warehouses and data lakes as well as the increasing convergence of data warehouse, data lake and data streaming technologies. In almost three-quarters of organizations (73%) data lake and data warehouse environments coexist. In some cases, they are completely independent systems (13%), but it is more common that data warehouses are sources of information for data lakes (26%), or data lakes are a source of information for the data warehouses (35%). We will continue to study data lakes this year in our ongoing Dynamic Insights research. Our Data Platforms Value Index research provides an overview of how well vendors and products are meeting organizations’ requirements for analytic data platforms.

Data Governance

Data governance enables organizations to ensure data is cataloged, trusted and protected, improving business processes to accelerate analytics initiatives while supporting data quality. Almost 9 in 10 organizations say data governance is important, while organizations that create and publish data governance policies have greater confidence and trust in data. Our Data Governance Benchmark Research provides an overview of organizations’ needs, plans and attitudes on data governance.

Data Management

Data management is a set of processes and technologies designed to deliver data integrity and reliability through data quality and master data management, enabling organizations to fulfill operational business objectives by ensuring data is accurate, complete and consistent. We assert that through 2025, 7 in 10 organizations will engage in data integrity initiatives to increase trust in data processes using data quality and master data management tools. We have multiple ongoing Benchmark Research projects studying these issues, including Data Governance and Big Data for Business.

Data Operations

Data operations (DataOps) is a methodology designed to deliver agile business intelligence and data science through the automation and orchestration of data integration and processing pipelines as well as improved data integrity via data monitoring and observability. We assert that through 2025, data observability will continue to be a priority for the evolution of data operations products as vendors deliver more automated approaches to data engineering, improving trust in enterprise data. We have several Benchmark Research projects studying these issues, including Data Governance and Analytics and Data.

Operational Data Platforms

Operational data platforms are designed to store, manage and process data in support of worker- and customer-facing operational applications across on-premises, hybrid and multicloud environments. Operational data platforms include relational and non-relational databases (including NoSQL) as well as the increasing convergence of relational and non-relational approaches. Hybrid operational and analytic processing support intelligent applications infused with personalization and artificial intelligence-driven recommendations. We assert that through 2025, two-thirds of organizations will reexamine current operational database suppliers with a view to improving fault tolerance and supporting the development of new, intelligent operational applications. Our Operational Data Platforms Value Index research provides an overview of how well vendors and products meeting organizations’ requirements for operational data platforms.

Streaming Data and Events

Streaming data and events can be used to identify trends and anomalies and enable real-time responses through uninterrupted processing and analysis of data generated by systems and devices on a continuous basis. We assert that by 2025, more than 7 in 10 organizations’ standard information architectures will include streaming data and event processing, allowing organizations to be more responsive and provide better customer experiences. We will continue to study streaming data this year in our overarching Analytics and Data Benchmark Research and ongoing Dynamic Insights research.

Subscribe to our Ventana Research community to stay up-to-date on our 2023 research efforts. Check out the Data expertise and focus pages for our detailed research agenda and continuously updated 90-day calendar as well as more research facts and best practices.

Regards,

Matt Aslett