Most CTOs and C-level executives often find data virtualization more of jargon, making it something predictable. However, data virtualization has benefits that no organization should miss out on. A simple example of what data virtualization can do for your organization is centralized data aggregation.
Data virtualization enables businesses to decouple the database layer between the storage and application layers. It works similar to a hypervisor but for the database. This layer lies between the database and the operating system. While many organizations use data visualizations for their systems, others are skeptical.
What makes data virtualization important is centralized information management. According to a recent study, the total data size on the internet is expected to reach 181 Zettabytes, which will require more resources for enterprises to manage. This is where data virtualization can help reduce costs, manage information, and enhance business intelligence.
There are several key benefits of data virtualization that you need to consider for your projects, and this article will help you understand them and why they are important for your business.
Why is Data Virtualization Important for Your Business?
Data is the new superpower you can leverage for businesses to enhance business analytics and user experience. The current landscape of digital experience requires a thorough analysis of customer behavior, preferences, and specific data.
Take Netflix, for example, which was struggling to manage data across streams. Identifying the database changes and managing them in real-time was a major challenge. Netflix created a change data capture tool to capture changes from MySQL, PostgreSQL, and other sources.
Similarly, virtualization is the approach to use if you have to collect data from different sources, manage changes, and ensure a high-end experience for your customers. It allows you to make sure you access data from different sources from a centralized platform.
The data virtualization approach offers several benefits:
- Faster data delivery
- Operational speed and efficiency
- Centralized data visibility
- Enhanced information management
- Higher data security and privacy
These benefits of data virtualization can be realized by applying advanced tools and strategic implementation. This is where you require cloud infrastructure and data virtualization expertise to maximize results.
Top Benefits of Data Virtualization For Your Business
#1. Centralized Data Collection
If you are dealing with large-scale data, one of the main challenges is the need for a uniform method for collecting and managing it. Take an example of a logistics business with operations worldwide and information from different sources. Without virtualization, the data from other sources will have no centralized storage, making it complex for companies to analyze and process.
Data virtualization is crucial for businesses that rely heavily on data analytics. It creates a software-based virtual environment that consolidates and indexes data under a standardized convention.
This enables different data-generating tools to communicate their unique data formats to the virtual environment, streamlining data analysis and providing a comprehensive understanding of the overall data landscape.
#2. Faster Operations
Data virtualization is a crucial technology that acts as an intermediary between databases and cloud infrastructure. It provides a unified system that enables quick and secure storage and management of data at scale.
By sourcing data from a rapid cluster network and presenting it in a uniform format, it eliminates bottlenecks in the decision-making process. Further data virtualization ensures that various information channels are highly available and reliable for enhanced business intelligence.
One of the key benefits of using data virtualization for business intelligence systems is faster data delivery. This is crucial when you need low-latency operations. Data virtualization helps eliminate the need to access each source individually, which speeds up information delivery.
#3. Reduced Costs
A key benefit of data virtualization is the reduced need for costly ETL/ELT processes. These processes have duplicate or low-quality data from multiple sources, which can be unstructured. So, standardizing the data becomes difficult for businesses.
Further, there are performance issues due to complex transformations and queries, which leads to slower data delivery speeds. ETL processes also need more maintenance, which is resource-intensive. This is where enterprises can leverage data virtualization tools.
These tools help consolidate data through abstract layers, reducing the need for higher physical servers. Less on-premise resources mean lower operational costs. Data virtualization provides a unified view of data, making it easier to access and analyze information.
#4. Data Governance and Access Control
Data virtualization improves information governance and access control by providing a single point of access for all the data. It allows centralized security policies, access controls, and monitoring, which makes sure there are no data leaks.
Virtualization also helps you standardize data governance policies, simplify authorization management, and enhance data privacy. Enforcing standardized data formats, types, and validation rules improves data quality for your business. Real-time policy enforcement ensures appropriate access to information.
#5. Operational Scalability
Data virtualization tools provide operational scalability through the creation of a virtual or logical layer. It delivers real-time data access with a time-efficient management approach. This software aggregates structured and unstructured data sources into a single platform accessible through a dashboard.
Operational capabilities that data virtualization offers enable you to scale your services across platforms. So, there is no denying that leveraging virtualization can be beneficial for your scalability needs.
Conclusion
Data virtualization is revolutionizing business intelligence with benefits such as improved decision-making, real-time data access, and cost savings. Businesses must embrace data virtualization to stay in the competition.
Choosing the right solution can unlock the full potential of data and drive growth. While implementation challenges exist, long-term benefits outweigh the obstacles. Embrace data virtualization to enhance your business intelligence and improve decision-making in your organization.
However, ensuring the efficient implementation of data virtualization requires software development expertise. It allows you to either build a data virtualization from scratch specific to your business or customize an existing tool.
So, if you are looking to leverage the data virtualization approach, Blazeclan can help you implement it effectively. Contact us for more information.
