Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 02 | Page 50

INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Software for Business

How open data structures can drive business transformation

A key requirement for digital business transformation to move forward is to have access to data outside of silos created by applications and databases .
By Arun Shankar
The process of business transformation begins with data . The journey usually starts in the datacentre where storing , preserving and guaranteeing the availability of data is a central part . But a challenge that businesses face is to transform data into something more meaningful usually referred to as business outcome .
“ Our mission at Hitachi Data Systems is to turn data into value . We take the ones and zeros that we have been storing for so many years and turn it into something meaningful . Financial services companies are now calling themselves IT companies that deliver financial services . It is information and their use of financial information that sets them apart ,” explains Peter Sjoberg , Vice President and Chief Technology Officer , Hitachi Data Systems .
Hitachi as an industrial business has been in existence for more than a hundred years , since the advent of the electric motors . A key competency has been its ability to integrate industrial and operational systems and data into one solution . Control systems within Hitachi ’ s industrial solutions produce vast quantities of data . Now through its new One Hitachi group approach , it is integrating a third component into its legacy core strength , information technology .
“ We have created the Hitachi Insight Group specifically focused on gaining control of data , allowing analysis and insight to be done against the data to produce an outcome , and that is what we really see coming together ,” says Sjoberg . “ The ability to create and leverage data is not why they
Peter Sjoberg is Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Hitachi Data Systems
exist , but to provide better outcomes . The industrial and operational side is important to us and drives our company .”
Going forward Hitachi is offering its railway as a service approach to deliver successful outcomes to its future railway customers as a business and sales model . This forward looking service takes over a railway system to deliver passengers on time . The ability to control and manage a railway system using a combination of operational and information technology , allows Hitachi to deliver better service and results . “ Turning ones and zeros of data into value is everything , leading to better outcomes and better railway systems .”
The process of generating business outcomes from data starts by getting control over data wherever it is being generated . By default , data inside a datacentre is siloed by application or by database , separating it and limiting its ability to be used . Once the data is under control by moving it out of the silos , it needs to be ingested . This allows it to be used , transformed and leveraged . This is the first and most crucial step , points out Sjoberg . “ People do not recognise that .”
There are other peripheral steps that need to be added to complete the cyclic process . The data needs to be governed so that there is predictable control . It needs to be augmented by metadata , enriching the core objects , allowing comparison and generation of analytics . It needs to be monetised by developing
Key takeaways
• A requirement of business transformation is to guarantee the right of data protection across entire lifecycle
• By default data inside a datacentre is siloed by application or by database limiting its ability to be used
• Process of business transformation begins with data
• Process of generating business outcomes from data starts by getting control over data wherever it is being generated
• Turning ones and zeros of data into value is everything leading to outcomes
• While the application can still see and access data its siloed connections are replaced by more open architecture
50 INTELLIGENTCIO www . intelligentcio . com