Stop chasing the hype: Your most valuable data source is already here

The untapped power of your “boring” data

In the world of analytics, it’s easy to get caught up in the hype. We hear endlessly about the promise of massive data lakes, unstructured social media data, and the limitless potential of the cloud. While these are all important parts of the data landscape, this relentless focus on the new can cause us to overlook some of the most valuable, trustworthy, and actionable data we have: the data in the core operational systems that run our businesses every single day.

These "boring" systems—your ERP, your supply chain management, your core financial applications—are the unsung heroes of your data strategy. They are the digital heart of your organization, and the data they hold is one of your greatest analytical assets. The key to unlocking the power of that data is utilizing tools–such as the ones in the ibi portfolio–that allow you maximize the accessibility and potential of your data. 

The two speeds of enterprise data

A truly effective data strategy operates at two speeds and addresses two distinct needs:

• Data for exploration: This is the world of the data lake or data warehouse. It’s a vast, historical repository, perfect for data scientists and analysts to discover broad, long-term trends and patterns.

• Data for operation: This is the data that powers your daily business. It’s the real-time, highly structured information inside your transactional systems that reflects the here-and-now: what’s in inventory, which invoices are pending, who your newest customers are. This is the data of action.

Many companies are so focused on mastering data for exploration that they fail to properly leverage their data for operation. This is a massive missed opportunity.

Why your operational data is a competitive advantage

The insights derived from your core systems are uniquely powerful for three reasons: they are trusted, they are relevant, and they are actionable.

Because these systems are mission-critical, the data within them is typically clean, structured, and reliable. It’s the ground truth. When you run a report from your financial system, you’re not looking at a copy–you're looking at the source. Insights from this data can directly influence and improve the very business processes they measure.

Tapping into this data is a core strength of the ibi™ WebFOCUS® Analytics platform. WebFOCUS® includes a vast library of data adapters specifically designed to connect directly to complex operational sources, from Oracle and SAP to cloud-based applications. This provides real-time access to the data that runs your business, without the need for slow and cumbersome ETL processes.

The ultimate operational system: The mainframe

Nowhere is the value and challenge of operational data more apparent than with the system that still powers the core of global commerce: the mainframe. For many of the world's leading institutions, the mainframe is the ultimate system of record, holding decades of invaluable transactional data.

The challenge is that this data is often perceived as being locked away and inaccessible to modern analytics tools.

ibi technology was quite literally purpose-built to solve this challenge. Through ibi™ FOCUS®, our dedicated mainframe adapters, and new tools like ibi™ Open Data Hub for Mainframe, we provide a highly efficient, secure, and direct path to this data. We transform the mainframe from a perceived data silo into a high-performance, real-time asset for your analytics strategy.

Tapping into your core

A world-class analytics strategy doesn’t just look to the horizon–it draws strength from its core. Whether you’re connecting to Snowflake, an ERP system, or a 40-year-old mainframe, the principle is the same. The fastest and most reliable path to actionable insight lies in leveraging the trusted, operational data that runs your business. The ibi portfolio of products allow you to transform your operational data, giving you the insight and direction needed for a thriving business.