The Enterprise Data Catalog

Chapter 8. Looking Ahead: The Company Search Engine and Improved Data Management

Throughout this book, I have discussed the capabilities of data catalogs that you can use today. You can use a data catalog so that it performs exactly as it is advertised to do and create an organized inventory of your data assets. With deliberate planning and engagement from users and stakeholders, a data catalog can permeate your company’s operational habits and enrich how you work.

In this chapter, I’ll take you through my thoughts on what the future has in store for data catalogs. I’ll go through how data catalogs have the potential to become company search engines as I mentioned in the Preface and throughout the book. I’ll share my visions with you about how data catalogs will move from being about data and orient themselves toward knowledge. Basically, I see data catalogs as having the potential to be the entry point to all of the knowledge in your company.

Here’s how.

The Company Search Engine

Today, it is often the case that a company’s digital assets are spread across an intranet that includes an unmanageable mix of news posts, pages of links, lists of words, strategy slides, and calendar events. Although some of the most relevant information in the company is there, it is not always easy to find. What is on the front page of that intranet and why? Not everything seems relevant. You may need to think hard when you deep dive into subpages to try to understand why data was organized in this ...