In this way, business data fabric enables AI to pull integrated data through this hybrid platform, analyze and then share it with the appropriate parties. By working independently of legacy systems, business data fabric eliminates the need to create an informational system that will move data from one part of the organization to another.
As a result, business data fabric enables companies to create true economies of scale, reduce cost and apply speed to the organization’s digital transformation. Organizations that have adopted a data fabric strategy have found that it requires significantly less human intervention – between 40%-90% -- to analyze and manage data. This is just one way that data fabric helps companies accelerate their digital transformation.
As companies move forward and deploy business data fabric throughout their enterprise, they often realize five key benefits:
- Enable “Trusted Data” - to be consumed across the organization as business data fabric eliminates silos and inconsistencies
- Speed time to market by 80% - Virtualization and AI auto discovery data means it is integrated in real-time, instead of days or months
- Streamline and reduce infrastructure costs - applying controls consistently across all data eliminates much of the effort required for operations and infrastructure complexity
- Adapt to changing conditions - easy configuration enables architecture to be reconfigured relatively quickly
- Increase portability and reuse - organizations build data fabric once, then roll it out globally without having to adapt to different data models
For example, when a multinational company sought to deploy a new global payment platform in 14 countries, applying a business data fabric approach reduced the time required by nearly two-thirds, from 30 months to eight. Before data fabric, the company would have had to configure a separate platform and algorithms for each country. Instead, they were able to build one semantic layer that integrated the financial data from each country, significantly accelerating the deployment. This ability to accelerate time to market typically helps companies achieve significant efficiencies in building new business solutions.
In addition, business data fabric helps companies democratize data, easing the flow of information across the organization and allowing more departments to access information in real time. For example, with most legacy systems, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and his finance team need to wait until at least the 20th of the month before they can access data for the prior month. With business data fabric, this process accelerates dramatically, giving them more time to spot issues or developing market conditions. This will be the new paradigm for CFOs in the 21st century.
Business data fabric also unlocks value for organizations in other ways. Companies engaged in an IT transformation can often reduce at one-seventh the cost per transaction, enabling the implementation of a plan to progressively decommission the legacy systems. The business data fabric solution also helps companies without a digital core to launch new ventures that turn them into digital natives at the outset, setting up operations that are significantly more efficient.
The pace of change shows no signs of abating. To that end, companies that embrace business data fabric will have taken a major step toward leveling the playing field and securing a competitive edge as they pursue their strategic plans.
As more national and regional economies rebound from the pandemic, organizations will need to meet new imperatives for delivering sustainable and resilient growth in an era of constrained resources and ongoing supply chain issues. This will spur a renewed focus on solutions that help companies better manage risk and cyber threats and maximize operational efficiency. EY data fabric approach will play a critical role in helping organizations transform their operations and create long term value.
Three ways that business data fabric helps companies accelerate business transformation
Technology at speed - AI projects normally require significant time to establish and create connections with the many different sources within a company. Data fabric eases this process, providing access to data for authorized people and business units within a fraction of the time required before. Data fabric also supports automatic machine learning, enabling business units to apply the data without having to become data specialists. In this way, it places AI and data in the hands of business leaders.
Innovation at scale - Multinational enterprises have often deployed different data models for individual countries and regions. Trying to scale AI and new IT across those regions can become a complex undertaking. Through its semantic layer, data fabric enables companies to skip a number of those steps, setting the stage for companies to scale data quickly.
Humans at center - Data fabric help companies provide “trusted data,” essentially democratizing the use of data and analytics to the employees who can understand, interpret and use it to create value for customers, employees and shareholders.
