Digital transformation has been on the agenda for a long time, but the sudden need to respond to the unprecedented challenges of 2020, has meant the buzzword has become an executable reality for many enterprises. I recently came across aKPMG reportthat revealed that 80% of executives are increasing investments on emerging technologies now, to drive higher realized value in the future. Underlying digital transformation and investment decisions is a precious asset: data. Now more than ever, decision-makers are looking to do more with their data. They are eagerly experimenting, deploying new use cases, and driving innovation for their organizations. At the same time IT, whose job it is to ensure security and compliance while meeting the needs of the business, tend to be unfairly blamed for holding projects back. This is because the majority of IT departments find it near impossible to just ‘ramp up’ data use, and even more difficult to do so at scale. However, without finding the right balance between innovation and security, businesses won’t be agile enough to stay ahead of the curve. This is what theData Champions category at the Data Impact Awardsis all about. Data Champions find the common ground that successfully meets the requirements of both business AND IT.
Last year’s winner of the Data Champions award,United States Census Bureau, is a perfect example of the impact data can have when all parts of the business are invested, and able, to maximize its use. The mission of the Bureau is to be the USA’s leading provider of quality data about citizens and the economy. With that in mind, the agency uses open-source technology and high-performance hybrid cloud infrastructure to transform how it processes demographic and economic data with an Enterprise Data Lake (EDL). Using this secure platform enables the Census to aggregate and manage data from various different sources, improving data products for all types of users whilst ensuring security and governance was adhered to. This is incredibly important, as entire communities rely on these statistics for everything from planning new businesses, schools, and roads to healthcare and emergency services. Their outstanding success in harnessing data to solve not only their own problems but the problems of other organizations, resulting in true societal impact, is what made them stand out among all Data Impact Awards entries.Â
They are Data Champions in the truest sense. They successfully married the strategic utilization of data, with a company culture that empowers more to be done with these insights – in a safe and secure way.
