What’s the big deal with data?
Data, data, data.
To some, it’s starting to sound more like yada, yada, yada.
Why do we keep talking about something that’s been around for so many years?
Well, for one, the sheer amount of available data has exploded—and the growth continues to be exponential.
To give you an idea, reports are circulating that 90% of the data we have today was created in just the past two years. Let that sink in.
We have an entire generation that’s born immersed in the digital world. And now our older generations, too, have embraced the shift—with baby boomers richly contributing to the digital economy as post-retirement side hustlers in their own right.
On a serious note, this means there’s more data than most companies know what to do with. And data that collects pixel dust means “lost opportunities.”
A 2022 report by Accenture reveals that 68% of companies were not able to extract value from their data. And that’s a big deal, because businesses that don’t turn data into insights and insights into action are losing out. Not just on revenue but on keeping up with shifts in the market and in consumer behaviour.
In other words, doing big stuff with data is agility for the 21st century.
The business benefits of doing more with data inside AWS
How does the cloud become an asset?
In 2022, an estimated 60 percent of all corporate data was stored in the cloud. This means that business insights and value now resides mostly in the cloud.
The cloud gives us access to state-of-the-art technologies, and allows companies and organisations to focus on business activity and innovation.
The benefits of modernising data are countless and have wonderful knock-on effects:
- Boost your efficiency
- Get more accurate, granular reporting
- Make highly informed decisions based on real-time insights
- Create product offerings that powerfully align with customer needs
- Gain and/or retain a competitive advantage
- Allocate resources based on up-to-date data
- Improve your data security
- Reduce your energy consumption and carbon footprint
Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud, with an ecosystem that naturally absorbs technology cycles, is a one-stop-shop for your data-driven business strategy.
It offers all the tools and services needed for modernising the generation, integration, and application of data.
But how do you know what you need for your use cases? And how can you build your solutions right?
A lot of businesses simply don’t have the internal resources and data science expertise to figure out how to extract—and dare we say, exploit—data at their fingertips. Even with all the tools and services AWS offers, each business will still need guidance on how to assemble the right solutions for the right objectives.
The Joe Cocker song “With a Little Help From My Friends” comes to mind. Instead of taking a hundred blindfolded steps and running around in circles on your own, you can take one step in the right direction with the right guide. That one step is all it takes to illuminate the path in front of you.
Find your A-Team in Devoteam A Cloud
Devoteam A Cloud brings its expertise in the AWS Cloud, the world leader in the public cloud, with the broadest and deepest service offering on the market.
As a trusted AWS partner, relying on rich cloud expertise dating back to 2012, we come up with custom plans to help businesses extract maximum value from their cloud ecosystem.
When it comes to data, Devoteam A Cloud helps businesses discover their best way forward by focusing on 3 axes:
- Modernisation of existing infrastructures
- Data unification
- Business innovation
Let’s briefly look at each axis.
1. Modernising existing infrastructures and data workloads
We understand that migration is more easily said than done. But we also know that having the right partner makes all the difference.
Devoteam A Cloud helps customers migrate their data management systems to AWS. We modernise these systems and help customers take advantage of all the cloud attributes, including automation, scalability, and resource elasticity.
Our capabilities include:
- Hadoop to EMR
- Terradata/Exadata to Redshift
2. Unifying data sources so you get a complete picture
A common problem businesses face is managing multiple disconnected platforms. As companies grow, different applications and workloads get added, but keeping them connected, not just to the business but to each other, is challenging.
So while a ton of data is being processed, the various moving parts remain fragmented, and business value and innovation plateaus.5
Devoteam A Cloud helps businesses unify their data by bringing all data sources under one roof. Integrating all these moving parts will enhance data assets and maximise the insights and value that can be derived from them.
Our capabilities in data unification include:
- Datalake / datamesh platforms
- Break down data silos from legacy systems
- Add new data sources
- Exposure of a data catalogue via APIs
- Implementation of data lineage and data quality mechanisms
- Respect of security and compliance rules
- Construction and exposure of a service catalogue
- Creation of a real-time data ingestion pipeline
- Data governance and data life cycle management
3. Industrialising data for business innovation
After all the data housekeeping above is complete, the real fun begins.
Devoteam A Cloud helps businesses push the gas pedal on initiatives to accelerate experimentation, prototyping, and industrialisation phases of data products.
This helps our customers reach their sustainability, efficiency, and profitability targets faster (including Industry 4.0 use cases, smart cities, and other data transformation initiatives).
Our capabilities with AI/ML include:
- Use of AWS artificial intelligence services to accelerate exploration phases (e.g., Recognition, Comprehend, etc.)
- Building data science models
- Industrialisation of AI/ML
- Setting up data science platforms based on MLOps best practices and enabling industrial deployment at scale
With our data science and analysis experts and AI/ML knowledge base, you can skip the hurdles of growing your own team and get straight to building solutions.
What about security?
With big data come big responsibilities, no doubt.
As if modernising, unifying, and innovating with data weren’t already Herculean undertakings, you also have to get ahead of possible security risks.
As more companies move their businesses to cloud and, in many cases, adopt a multicloud strategy, they have to think about information security in a much different way than before.
A strong security posture is critical to robust business risk management, and it’s something our Devoteam A Cloud is especially passionate about. Because at the end of the day, you can leverage data for business purposes all day long, but it can all evaporate with a black swan event.
That’s why Devoteam A Cloud doesn’t just specialise in data innovation in the cloud but in cloud security. As your data stack becomes more sophisticated, your security stack will have to keep up. Making security your “second skin” is key, and we can help you achieve it.
Data projects in the wild
Talking about data is one thing; doing great things with it is another.
Our customers’ stories speak for themselves.
Devoteam A Cloud has helped:
- Veolia Water France—migrate to AWS cloud and automate infrastructure services
- Helpphone—set up a disaster recovery site and data back up in AWS
- Engie—achieve progressive zero-carbon transformation through cloud migration
- Bouygues Telecom—migrate to cloud, speed up time to market, and enhance security
- Sede Veolia—centralise existing and new data, implement IoT capabilities to collect real-time data, and achieve better decision-making and efficiency
- A pharmaceutical company with 43,000+ employees—equip their work environment with smart-office capabilities to reduce energy use, minimise food waste, and maximise use of space.
- Gaiurb, of Vila Nova de Gaia—create a mobile augmented reality (AR) platform to deliver a rich tourism experience while supporting the local economy
What will your own success story look like? Let’s create one together.