Beyond the Data Swamp: Aussie Firms Embrace Data Products for Agility
- By CDOTrends editors
- June 25, 2024
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Technology leaders in Australia have reported significant returns from their investments in data streaming, according to a survey conducted by Confluent.
Findings from Confluent’s Data Streaming Report 2024 revealed that of 304 Australian IT leaders surveyed, 86% cited a return of between two and ten times on their data streaming investments.
94% of respondents cited data streaming platform technology as “critical” or “important” in achieving data and information-related goals, while 61% reported significant benefits in “enabling more data-driven operational decisions within the business” since using data streaming.
Simon Laskaj, regional director for ANZ at Confluent, said: “The importance of reaching the ‘central nervous system’ level of data streaming maturity will become more important as transformative technologies, such as AI and ML, become ingrained in operations, requiring a robust data and governance strategy.”
The report also highlighted challenges in implementing data streaming, with 65% of respondents citing the inconsistency of data sources, while 63% said data was too often out of date.
The fragmented ownership of data was called out by 60%.
To address these challenges, 93% cited “efficient and effective data discovery, sharing and access mechanisms” as critical or essential means to solve such challenges, while 87% identified the “seamless and consistent implementation of data governance policies.”
As the central nervous system for businesses, data streaming platforms connect applications and systems to ensure data is available in real-time, wherever it’s needed, enabling companies to focus on accelerating innovation instead of navigating the maze of point-to-point data connections.
The survey found that 85% of respondents noted that data streaming platforms are key or one of the critical enablers to “joined-up visibility across the business,” while 94% said data streaming helps break down data silos in most or many situations
More IT leaders are considering organizing their data into data products as organizations look to broaden and simplify data access and reusability. Data products are live, refined, fully governed, and ready-to-use data assets instantly discoverable, contextualized, trustworthy, and reusable for many use cases.
Globally, Confluent interviewed more than 4,000 IT leaders, and those results resonated with the Australian findings.
Of the entire sample, 41% saw an ROI of five times or more on their data streaming investments, while 86% said it was a strategic investment priority.
It was also seen as a way of facilitating the adoption of artificial intelligence and machine learning, according to 63% of global respondents.
Image credit: iStockphoto/Nastco