Enterprise Architecture for Digital Business

Chapter 4. Operational Data Is the New Oil

Mike Corrigan, F5 VP of Engineering, and James Hendergart, F5 director of Development Operations

Operational data and its potential to produce new business value apply to all types of organizations in all sectors of society and the economy. All domains generate and consume operational data. The ability of organizations to consume enough of the right kinds of operational data, generate valuable insights from that data, and then take correct and timely action determines their ability to achieve and sustain new heights of success in this current age of digital business.

The fact that a saying is a cliché makes it no less true. Many have declared data as the new oil so often that it has become cliché. But it is also a true statement, because operational data, like oil, is an unrefined resource that ultimately enables businesses to extract and create value in the form of derivatives.

Oil is the foundation for more than 6,000 products including “dishwashing liquid, solar panels, food preservatives, eyeglasses, DVDs, children’s toys, tires, and heart valves.”¹ The value of operational data, like oil, depends largely on refinement and production processes. Indeed, raw data has little value. Rather, it is the information and insights gleaned through careful processing and analysis of the data that produces value.

We already see traditional industries embracing operational data to grow existing business and create new lines of revenue. Those firms ...