Data Fabric as Modern Data Architecture

Chapter 3. How to Get Started

The business value of a data fabric is clear. It provides one place to go for data, for better and faster insights. It offers consistent, high-quality, governed, and secure data to everyone throughout your organization. It simplifies your journey to data democratization. And your users will spend less time searching and more time analyzing. Table 3-1 shows five prime use cases for data fabrics, the challenges they solve, and the benefits they bestow.

Table 3-1. Use cases for data fabrics

Data fabric use case	Data challenges solved by data fabric	Benefits
Customer engagement (customer 360)	Customer data is spread across multiple systems, making it difficult to truly understand customers. Incomplete data impacts sales and marketing effectiveness.	One place to go for customer data: Revenue acceleration Lower cost of sales Higher return on marketing spend
Line-of-business (LOB) operations (operations 360)	LOB operations data is distributed in silos. Incomplete data prevents optimizing resources, increases costs, and reduces customer satisfaction.	One place to go for LOB data: Lower operational costs Faster response to changing operational dynamics
New-product innovation	Lack of access to data inhibits collaboration spanning multiple groups and systems. Lack of real-time data access deters speed-to-market and optimization of R&D resources.	One place to go for R&D data: Faster time to market for new products Higher return ...