APAC enterprises already in data consolidation mode: Pivotal survey

By Digital News Asia January 11, 2016

Data silos raise IT costs and security risks, and limit ability to gain data insights
Growing emphasis on leveraging data technologies for agility and intelligence

APAC enterprises already in data consolidation mode: Pivotal survey

CONSOLIDATION across data silos is now mainstream and a key business priority for enterprises as they move ahead in 2016, according to a Pivotal survey of its customers and partners across five countries in Asia Pacific.

The survey on Data Technology Adoption and Maturity in Asia Pacific was conducted against the backdrop of an increasingly complex IT landscape, Pivotal said in a statement.

More than half the respondents (51%) also indicated they have already adopted data technologies for cross-business unit agility and intelligence.

Real-time processing of data and data analytics (19%) trailed behind as the next most common priority to applying data technology, the company said.

Traditionally, businesses have managed data within structured and unstructured silos, a direct result of having to deploy relational database management and file storage systems, Pivotal said in its statement.

According to IDC, data silos within Asia Pacific organisations are raising IT costs and security risks, while limiting their ability to make “insight-based decisions.”

The clear emphasis on data consolidation becoming a key priority for businesses highlights the growing maturity for data management and the start of a change process across organisations in Asia Pacific to modernise their IT systems.

This modernisation would enable the wider enterprise to reap the benefits of cross-business unit access and analysis, and thus become more agile, efficient and resilient, Pivotal declared.

Asia Pacific businesses also show high levels of confidence in terms of adoption and implementation of data technologies, it added.

While 39% of businesses still perceive their organisation to fall short in terms of data readiness, nine in 10 businesses showed confidence in their organisation catching up by 2017.

In addition, 58% of respondents indicated they expected their organisation to be more than 90% ‘data ready’ within two years.

“In the face of the ‘digital disruption,’ transforming into a data-driven organisation is no longer a choice,” said Pivotal Asia Pacific and Japan vice president Melissa Ries.

“Organisations now need to look at transitioning from siloed approaches of managing data assets to consolidating their data across the enterprise in an agile and secure manner to keep up with the speed of business.

“Organisations are increasingly pressured to embrace software as a core competency as they make the transition towards a cloud-native environment to differentiate themselves and capture new opportunities in a mobile-cloud era.

“A truly data-driven culture where business divisions across the enterprise have access to growing databases and can unlock the full value of their data will enable these organisations to become the leaders of tomorrow,” she added.

Barriers for data adoption

However, respondents indicated they still perceive challenges in implementing and deploying data technologies:

Budgetary concerns (22%) and issues with legacy data infrastructure (22%) were listed as top barriers for data technology adoption amongst Asia Pacific organisations, followed by IT complexity (17%);

In reducing barriers to adoption, respondents indicated clearly defined co-existing strategy with legacy systems (25%) and open-source technologies (22%) as useful; and

Bridging the skills gap: 18% also indicated relevant skills training as another key method to encourage technology implementation (click infographic below to enlarge).