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Why Hybrid Data Environments are Key to Digital Transformation

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Click to learn more about author Jack Mardack.

Digital transformation is not a one-size-fits-all undertaking. Each organization begins its journey from a unique starting point and a 100% migration to the cloud may not necessarily be the answer for every company. Whether it has a legacy analytics system based on Netezza or Teradata or mission-critical data workloads running in the data center, the flexibility offered by a hybrid approach to data architecture is proving an essential requirement for many digital transformers. Even though a wholesale migration to the cloud has been equated with digital transformation, the reality for many businesses is that the future looks hybrid for a long time to come.

Recently, the Hybrid Data Trends Snapshot polled over 300 IT professionals with key decision-making power in companies with at least 250 employees and inquired about their critical data management issues. According to the survey, 87% of IT decision-makers (ITDMs) agree that when it comes to their data analytics, they want a hybrid solution with both cloud and on-premises deployment. Why is this the case? In short, hybrid data environments offer flexibility and control to organizations with different needs. 

When a company embraces a hybrid, multi-cloud approach it is better able to structure its architecture to fit its unique business needs. As customer data privacy and security issues become even more pressing to companies of all sizes, the ability to meet government compliance requirements becomes crucial. Hybrid environments offer organizations the flexibility and opportunity to do so and structure their data architecture as their business needs require.

Multiple public clouds are preferred to single-vendor approaches. More than four out of five ITDMs surveyed emphasized that they do not want to get locked into a single cloud platform. While there are clearly many options and a variety of needs for different organizations, 95% of ITDMs believe that having the freedom of choice to obtain best-in-class data architecture solutions is a top priority. It’s clear from ITDM opinions that hybrid solutions are the way of the future. 

Companies Generate Realtime, Actionable Insights

While most businesses today claim to recognize the value of data, the truth is that most enterprises are not effectively utilizing their available data. Half of businesses surveyed cited data complexity issues due to siloed applications as the primary obstacle to accessing data and gaining effective real-time insights. When companies embrace a hybrid on-premise/cloud environment, they are able to overcome data complexity challenges and utilize their data to achieve the full potential of real-time insights, decision-making, trendspotting and more. 

Businesses with hybrid environments are better able to leverage more of their data sooner and more frequently. This converts to actionable insights that can give them a competitive advantage. Analyzing real-time data opens up a wide range of new possibilities for companies, enabling a fuller and more accurate picture of their status, progress, successes, and pain-points. They can leverage this to improve as a company and reach their business objectives. 

Hybrid Architecture Supports Compliance Demands 

In addition to increased flexibility, hybrid data environments make it easier for enterprises to follow regulatory and government compliance requirements. 

As concerns around data privacy and security mount, governments around the world have focused their efforts on establishing laws that determine how businesses can use and store customer data. As a prominent example, GDPR has sparked change in businesses and government organizations alike. Companies are committed to evolving their data architectures and protocols.

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is leading the way for these necessary changes in the U.S., and a number of states already have their own data legislation in place. Juggling each of these individual data privacy laws makes it additionally challenging for global businesses to thrive when they need to align with a variety of regulations. This is where hybrid environments come in. 

Modern data warehouses and hybrid solutions offer more control and malleability, and globally compliant data management is actually easier in these environments. With a hybrid environment, enterprises can identify and locate their data whenever compliance laws require it, regardless of whether they use data warehouses, application databases, or multi-cloud solutions. Hybrid solutions allow enterprises to fully utilize their data for analytics performance and cost considerations, while maintaining the ability to follow regulatory and compliance regulations.

Legislation around data compliance is inevitable. Enterprises that embrace hybrid environments can follow compliance requirements without sacrificing their thriving business. 

The growing movement towards hybrid environments is clear, but there are still some key obstacles. ITDMs claim that the three biggest challenges they face when transitioning to hybrid solutions are cost, management of competing priorities and/or visions, and the inability to get users to adopt new technologies and capabilities quickly. IT teams that are able to effectively argue for the improved outcomes that hybrid environments provide, along with an ability to fully understand and explain the economic implications of these changes, will be most successful in moving their organizations toward hybrid environments. 

As the popularity of hybrid environments continues to grow, it’s apparent that the benefits far outweigh the obstacles. Hybrid environments are crucial for enterprises undergoing digital transformation because they offer flexibility, access to real-time insights, and the ability to meet regulatory and government compliance requirements. It is becoming clear that the secret to embracing digital transformation is embracing hybrid data environments. 

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