External Data University: Issue #15
🤖 New Research from Forrester Quantifies the Pain Data Engineers Face Daily
Forrester has completed new research on automating and optimizing data engineering to accelerate time to value, specifically when it comes to external data. Key findings highlight gaps across the board and a strong desire for better solutions in external data integration, observability, and transformation.
The Key Findings:
- Nearly 80% of surveyed data leaders want a faster, more efficient way to onboard new external data sources
- 37% of those surveyed said a top process challenge is the lack of proper data governance to ensure data quality, appropriate access, and consistency
- On average, surveyed leaders said their teams spend 70% of their time with a new data set, prepping it for analysis vs. just 30% of their time on actual data analysis
🎯 Gartner’s Latest Research Highlights Need for External Data & Analysis in Customer Service
Gartner has released their latest survey, and their key finding is that 84% of leaders cite customer data and analytics as 'very or extremely important' for achieving their goals.
External data is beneficial and necessary for making strategic business decisions, and the customer service and support leaders in this survey recognize that.
The bigger issue: While this isn't surprising to anyone familiar with external data, what is surprising is that external data and analytics are still being viewed by some as a nice-to-have or future endeavor. How do you rank its importance? Leave a comment and let us know.
👀 What We’re Watching
💸 Progress Software acquires NoSQL data integration engine MarkLogic
MarkLogic Inc. is the maker of a NoSQL database management system used for enterprise data integration.
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Why did they buy it? “That addresses a vexing problem for large companies, in particular, that may have “thousands of suppliers and hundreds of thousands of parts with different terminology,” CEO Gupta said. “If you have a database that can ingest from both structured and unstructured sources and apply semantic data modeling you can rationalize it and apply analytics.”
We’re watching this because: Just like the latest research highlighted above, it drives home that external data cannot be ignored and that organizations who overcome the challenges of unstructured data integration–whether it’s through an acquisition or a more economical platform subscription–are creating a competitive advantage for themselves.
🌎 The SEC’s Climate Proposal’s Impacts Stretch Beyond the US Stock Exchange
The SEC has shared a new climate proposal that experts argue isn’t just for US equity firms.
What are they saying? “At the highest level, the SEC’s climate proposal has the potential to raise expectations for the quality, volume and comparability of ESG data. This heightened demand from investors and the market could pressure private equity firms to disclose more ESG information than they have previously,” says Elizabeth Ming, audit partner, asset management and ESG, for KPMG.
Okay, anything else? If an equity firm wants to IPO, that climate data is necessary too. Furthermore, any investments in publicly traded companies will require the same types of data, and investors who can’t generate or track that data will be providing their customers with a disadvantage.
- Scout
Scout Scholes
Content Marketing Manager