Why is data integration critical for business success?

Talend CEO Mike Tuchen shared his views on why data integration has become an important focus of investment amongst successful companies.

In a world where the Internet of Things (IOT) applications seem to be a primary demand, data is increasingly becoming the new battleground, according to Mike Tuchen, CEO of software integration vendor Talend. He added that the situation is clear for companies – their future depends on how quickly and efficiently they can turn data into accurate insights. As such, this challenge has put immense pressure on IT departments to not only manage ever-growing data volumes, sources, and types but to also support more data users as well as new and increasingly complex use cases.

Data integration, the process of collecting data from a range of sources so it may be used by companies as the basis for informed decision making, has become an important topic of discussion in various IT departments. Particularly in Asia, Tuchen cited a recent study by IDC forecasting that there will be 8.6 billion connected devices by 2020. With the exponential increase of data through IoT devices and sensor technology, companies are recognising the need to harness and utilise this data meaningfully, he said.

In this exclusive interview with Singapore Business Review, Tuchen shares more about the importance of data integration.

Can you tell us about your company and what you offer?

Talend is a leader in cloud and big data integration software. We help companies to turn their data into a strategic asset that delivers real-time, organisation-wide insight into customers, partners, and operations. Through our integration platform, Talend Data Fabric, we deliver what we refer to as “data agility”. Data Agility is really about having the development speed and flexibility required to leverage new market innovations and quickly scale to meet the constantly evolving demands of modern business.

Simply put, our software helps organisations in any industry use the data they already have more effectively, so they can gain new insights, automate their business processes and improve their overall business performance. That’s what we do at Talend.

Why is data integration important to IT departments and companies?

We are in an increasingly data-driven world where winners and losers are defined by how effectively they leverage data, and in which intensely data-driven companies like Amazon, GE, Netflix and Uber are changing the basis of competition. Data integration has become so important to IT departments and companies, and why it’s a major area of focus and investment.