A Beginner’s Guide To Data Fabric Software

Did you know that a study by Seagate Technology in July 2020 showed that up to 68% of your business data is not analyzed? Yes, we know that’s a scary statistic! As most organizations need data to understand whether they are on the right trajectory, it becomes even scarier. With the growth in data sprawl and volume, in order to become fully data-driven, businesses need an integrated data strategy and a connected architecture. Although today’s data management systems are adequate, they won’t scale with data in the future.

This is where a Data Fabric Software comes in! It allows enterprises to deploy an architecture that simplifies access to business data and enables self-service data consumption by integrating all data sources end-to-end. In fact, the technology giant IBM predicted that by deploying Data Fabric Software, businesses can see more than a 50% increase in ROI by reducing ETL (extract, transform, load) requests for business data.

Sounds like something you definitely need, right? Let’s explore what the software does in a bit more detail.
 

What Is Data Fabric Software?

A Data Fabric Software is a unified data platform that automatically performs data discovery, governance and consumption, allowing businesses to maximize the value of data analytics. The software helps businesses leverage their data and streamlines analytics by creating comprehensive data views. Hence, enterprises can access the right data at the right time, regardless of where it is stored.

Businesses that work with highly complex and heterogeneous data can especially gain greater visibility, deeper insights and a better overview of their data, irrespective of where it sits. This tool is the key for data-driven businesses as it can be adopted by any industry and domain that uses data for decision-making.

However, you won’t find Data Fabric Software deployed in every industry – after all, it’s barely five years old! #AYoungAchiever
 

Evolution And Origin Of Data Fabric Software

According to Dan DeMers, CEO of Cinchy, a Dataware platform, data fabric is the latest enterprise data solution and the first real evolution in data management since the relational database that appeared in the 1970s. We agree with Dan!

Data management has always transformed when new ways data storage techniques were invented. Data fabrics were first proposed in the mid-2000s, when cloud computing – the latest in data storage technology – was still in its infancy. As the idea started growing, massive amounts of data began to migrate from data centers to the cloud. Data managers realized how difficult it would be to integrate cloud data with on-premises data.

No one really challenged the issue for a while, however, NetApp, a provider of data management systems, coined the revolutionary term "data fabric." The company explained the challenges of managing data in hybrid cloud environments in a white paper published in 2016. They proposed an enterprise-wide network infrastructure to connect all data sources – essentially, a data fabric.

Soon, Data Fabric Software was created to put this idea into action. Although the technology is new, it’s not some rocket-science mumbo-jumbo that only data nerds would understand!

Here’s how it works…
 

How Does Data Fabric Software Work?

 
In simple words, Data Fabric Software creates an integrated data architecture (like threads come together to create a fabric) that is dynamic, robust and secure. It integrates enterprise data across on-premises, public and private clouds, edge networks and even IoT devices, while remaining centrally governed. Hence, businesses can monitor every bit of data and related processes from a single interface, regardless of where the data and applications are stored.

Machine Learning (ML) and Graph Analysis (GA) form the backbone of metadata discovery in data fabric infrastructures – think of them as the Oompa Loompas to your chocolate factory! Metadata discovery essentially means profiling new data as it comes in, extracting important insights, comparing it with existing data and mapping users and actions to the data. The software does all this automatically, enabling businesses to see "who is using what, when and how" instantaneously.

We’re pretty sure that’s even cooler than Willy Wonka’s Great Glass Elevator! #IfYouKnowItYouKnowIt
 

Benefits Of Data Fabric Software

However, Data Fabric Software isn’t just cool – it’s practical as well. The adaptability of the software prevents the formation of data silos and allows businesses to easily manage enterprise data, which in turn enables quick and reliable data processes. Naturally, if businesses are integrating, managing and analyzing data more effectively, they can also gain better business insights.

There are various other advantages, such as:
 

• Better Business Visibility And Insights

  Businesses can view data across the board in a single pane, providing better visibility which leads to business insights of high quality.

• Improved Security For Data Access

  By understanding who is using what data, when and how, businesses can better regulate access to sensitive data.

• Reduced Data Integration Issues

  As the software automates the process of data discovery, integration and management, it eliminates manual errors and integration issues.

• Increased Data Quality

  Using Machine Learning algorithms, the software ensures data quality compliance.

• Simplified Data Governance And Management

  The software simplifies the process of data governance and management through automated workflows and self-service data management.

Willy Wonka once said:
   
Fortunately, with Data Fabric Software, we do know which direction we are going – read on!
 

What’s The Future Of Data Fabric Software?

One thing is certain: Data Fabric Software will usher in a new era of data management.

Most leading companies will deploy Data Fabric Software that extracts intelligent insights from metadata discovery powered by, well, Artificial Intelligence (AI). Heck, is there any industry that AI hasn't disrupted yet!

Furthermore, it is expected that by 2024, Data Fabric Software deployments will grow fourfold to improve the efficiency of data utilization while significantly reducing human-driven efforts. Data fabrics will be fueled by the digital transformation of data-based processes, something that most businesses are already focusing on. According to experts, in the coming years, the data fabric industry will be driven by innovations in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning techniques to enable better automation and data processing.

We can’t wait to see what’s in store – can you?
 

To Sum Up

Data needs to be both secure and quickly accessible – two aspects that may reduce the effectiveness of the other. Yet, Data Fabric Software steps in crucially for organizations to maximize their use of data analytics and achieve better business insights. Businesses that ingest and connect every data source of all types through such software will boost their capacity to support real-time decision-making. Isn’t that the new goal of every business?