New Year Brings New Hope – Data Odyssey 2021

I recently participated in a preview with TDWI Upside for what could be in store for data-related technologies in 2021. This blog post is a summary of my outlook. The written interview can be found in its entirety at TDWI Upside in this December 15, 2020 story.

Of course, these predictions are not an exact science but where we believe the industry might be headed based on the previous year and market feedback. Along with the summary as laid out below, I also see a continued growing demand for self-service analytics, AI and cloud computing.

Brief Summary of 2020

To start, looking back over this past year and considering some of the concerns I have heard from businesses in the field, it appears that we could very well see data management changing quite a bit over the next 2-5 years. As organizations adjust to remote work and the demand continues to grow by business users having the autonomy and capability to access their data as fast as possible, I believe that organizations will take a closer look at their current data management platforms and strategies. Part of this evaluation will be to consider the advantages for moving to no-code and automation.

Another point of interest from 2020 is that we saw more and more marketing departments buying tech solutions without waiting for IT evaluation and approval. In addition, I have also been surprised that more corporate data teams have not adopted to finding new ways of working to leverage all their data work that is being accomplished by business units based on SaaS offerings.

Looking Ahead to 2021 

As we move into 2021, I think it would be quite beneficial for organizations to move to a combined data-management platform that prepares and aligns for cloud deployment. This would provide for making data ready for analysis by leveraging the power of automation to collect, unify, organize, shape, and load data from various sources to create a modern data estate.  A modern data estate can support different use cases that are derived from corporate data and with speed, efficiency, quality and scale. From there, you can make the move to take advantage of the myriad benefits that exist from cloud computing.

As systems become more complex, automation can help simplify and reduce work that is time-intensive, manual and repetitive. This frees up technical staff to get involved in more complex matters that can benefit from their expertise and strategic and creative thinking.

Key Takeaway

Time is one of our most precious business assets. Speed and high-quality business decision making are absolutely essential. I believe that the near future for data management will move away from relying on writing code to designing data flows and data models that can rapidly and more efficiently support business needs.

Let us know what you think. What are your predictions for data management 2021?

For Further Reading:

Setting Up for Success: Governing Self-Service BI

5 Rules for Successful Self-Service Analytics

Building Your Data Management Strategy