One thing has become clear over recent tech history: there will always be a new tool, paradigm, breakthrough, etc. that organizations will want or need to adopt to stay competitive. Organizations have a choice to scramble to meet those innovations or build a technical foundation that is ready to take on each one.

Your data architecture is a key part of whether your platforms and systems are prepared for the future. It ensures that your data flows across your organization in a thoughtful and productive way. (This is why BBI founders often talk about being data plumbers.)

In this blog post, we’ll look at what data architecture means in the modern world and share some specific examples of how we’ve seen a strong data architecture strategy impact our clients.

Modern Data Architecture

Organizations are gathering more and more data, building data lakes to store it all for analysis. Data may also be stored in NoSQL databases, search services, warehouses, and more. Integrating data from multiple, varied sources is always a complex undertaking, and that complexity only grows as volume does.

To manage this complexity, you need a data architecture with strong governance that combines all these sources without interruption.

Modern data architecture offers significant advantages, including improved scalability, flexibility, and agility in managing and analyzing large volumes of data. With a proper architecture, organizations can extract valuable insights faster, make informed decisions more quickly, and adapt to changing business needs more effectively.

Data Architecture: The Future

As per Unisphere Research’s Market Study: ‘2024 Modern Data Management & Data Fabric’, the future of data architecture will be shaped by several key trends:

• Cloud Adoption: Cloud-based data platforms offer scalability, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness, making them increasingly popular for data storage and processing.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML): Integrating AI and ML into data architecture will enable automation, deeper insights, and more informed decision-making.
• Real-Time Analytics: Access to real-time data and analytics will become crucial for organizations to maintain a competitive edge and quickly adapt to market changes.
• Focus on Data Security and Privacy: As data privacy regulations evolve, organizations must ensure their data architecture strategies comply and prioritize security measures.

Interestingly, Unisphere Research published a research paper titled ‘Market Study: ‘2023 Modern Data Architecture Trends’ where all the key trends were predicted accurately. By embracing these emerging trends and continuously evolving your data architecture strategy, your organization can maintain a competitive edge in the ever-evolving data ecosystem, harnessing the full potential of data for sustained future success. 

Data Architecture Project Spotlights

At BBI, we prioritize building systems that prepare organizations for the future. Data architecture is an integral piece of many of these projects. Below, we take a look at architecture work across finance, retail, and healthcare.

Finance

BBI partnered with a leading financial services organization to update their data management approach. The client needed to convert vast amounts of raw data into actionable insights, but the raw data was stored in an S3 environment, making real-time ad hoc analysis complex and time-consuming.

We transformed raw data into concise summary tables while maintaining the raw data's integrity within the S3 storage. This allowed our client to access and analyze the data with a suite of tools tailored for their unique needs, significantly speeding up data-driven decisions.

Retail

A major global retailer faced difficulties in managing inventory and setting pricing strategies due to fragmented data sources. By integrating real-time data from across the supply chain into a unified data architecture, we empowered the client to make swift, informed decisions.

Our solution, built on cloud-based accelerators and proprietary connectors, reduced operational costs and enhanced customer satisfaction by ensuring that the right products were available at the right time.

Healthcare

A healthcare client needed help managing patient data — disparate data sources and compliance requirements hindered their ability to offer optimal care and service. We centralized their data into a compliant, secure cloud data lake, enabling easier access and analysis. This improved operational efficiency and enhanced patient outcomes by ensuring that healthcare providers had real-time access to critical information.

Easy, Efficient Data Access

We take a comprehensive approach to data architecture, keeping the end user and your business goals in mind. Our Accelerators ensure that success is nearer than you think, regardless of your industry.

The visibility and accessibility provided by a strong data architecture are necessary to keep up with the newest technical advances (and the ones yet to come).

Ready to future-proof your architecture? Let’s build together.