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May 3 2024

Granularity Is the True Data Advantage

Commerce today runs on data – guiding product development, improving operational efficiency, and personalizing the customer experience. However, many organizations fall into the trap of thinking that more data means more sales, when these two factors aren’t directly correlated. Often, executives will become overzealous in their digital transformations and cut blank checks for data collection, […]

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Strategies for Closing the Digital Transformation Gap in Healthcare

There’s no need to sugarcoat it – in the U.S., a widening digital gap is carving up the healthcare industry. AVIA Research recently found that only 10-40% of health systems are actively making a direct financial impact in areas where digital transformation can make a difference. In practice, the disparity looks like this: Non-traditional high-tech players like […]

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A Day in the Life of a Chief Digital Officer

Almost every organization is embarking on some sort of digital transformation initiative. The role of a Chief Digital Transformation Officer (CDO) has emerged to lead and oversee success. Major responsibilities of the CDO include:

Define and implement a digital strategy for the company’s future that includes technologies such as the cloud, artificial intelligence, automation, Internet of Things (IoT), and social media.

Integrate digital initiatives with strategic planning to gain executive leadership commitment and budget, and resource allocation.
Work with cross-functional teams to generate innovative digital solutions for products, services, customer experiences, sales, marketing, and optimized business processes

Own, prioritize, monitor, and manage the company’s digital innovation project portfolio.

Serve as an evangelist and a change agent, championing the use of digital technology and practices.

Top Challenges for the CDO

Executing the above activities is a demanding job. While specific challenges may vary based on the industry and organizational context, some common challenges faced by the CDO include resistance to change, budget justification, hard-to-replace legacy technologies, the skills gap, and demonstrating success as discussed below.

Resistance to Change

A general sentiment expressed as “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” competes with an overarching sense of urgency created by the need for digital transformation. To overcome the status quo, CDOs are constantly engaged in identifying and clearly communicating the pain points stagnation is causing. These often include compatibility and obsolescence issues, security and compliance risks, missing functionality, lack of scalability to meet business growth, expensive maintenance, inefficient workflows, and processes that hamper business agility, and poor user experiences.

Budget Justification

It can be challenging to show that the cost of modernization is significantly less than maintaining legacy systems over time. The budget justification challenge is compounded by maintenance and innovation budgets that are usually separate along with the sentiment that money might be better spent on opportunities other than what is working as intended, especially if the return on investment of modernization will take time to materialize.

These issues place a heavy onus on CDOs to highlight the opportunities that digital transformation presents. By embracing digital transformation, CDOs elaborate on the business value, such as operational efficiency, optimizing the customer experience, product innovation, data-driven decision making, business agility, sustainability, and staff productivity.

Plus, it’s a lot easier to integrate digital technologies with a wide range of systems, processes, and functions across an organization than to integrate legacy ones. This is important because digital technologies play a critical role in optimizing the supply chain by improving visibility, efficiency, and collaboration. Legacy modernization in the realm of electronic commerce is another key example that can lead to a more agile and user-friendly online shopping experience that supports a greater choice of web and mobile interfaces.

Hard-to-Replace Legacy Technologies

As businesses attempt to modernize, many have legacy systems and infrastructure that are hard to replace. On-premises to cloud migration can be a long and risky journey. Migrating or replacing these systems while ensuring business continuity requires careful planning and resources. The CDO often oversees the development of a data migration strategy to ensure a smooth transition from legacy systems to modern platforms and their integration with existing applications, databases, and platforms. Identifying and mitigating risks associated with legacy system replacement is critical to avoid disruption of mission-critical systems.

Talent Acquisition and Skill Gaps

Not only is attracting, developing, and retaining talent with the right digital skills a constant challenge, but existing legacy staff will need to be retrained and/or upskilled. Layoffs in technology may be in full swing, but demand in 2024 for digital transformation technical skills such as cloud, DevOps, security, privacy, development, artificial intelligence, automation, system updates, data integration, and analytics is high according to Robert Half Technology’s 2024 IT salary report.

Showing Success

Demonstrating positive business outcomes is critical to continued success, but how to measure them isn’t easy. CDOs often use these types of key performance indicators (KPIs) to gauge impact:

Percentage increase in digital sales or revenue.
Customer satisfaction scores (CSAT), Net Promoter Score (NPS), and other customer engagement metrics.
Time to launch for digital products and services
Percentage of users or employees adopting new digital tools and processes.
Cost savings achieved through process automation or efficiency gains.

Digital Transformation with Actian

Actian transforms business by enabling customers to make confident, data-driven decisions that accelerate their organization’s growth. We are committed to helping our customers secure their digital future by making it easy to modernize their databases and database applications, including flexible choices for on-premises to cloud migration.

Related Resources

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Reduce the Risk of Application Modernization by Retaining Business Logic

While legacy database applications power the business operations of many organizations, they can prevent them from realizing the benefits of digital transformation. Yet organizations settle for the status quo because application modernization can be a long, expensive, and risky journey that can involve replacing thousands of lines of custom-developed business logic. OpenROAD, Actian’s solution for rapid database application development, makes it easy to modernize applications with low risk by retaining your investment in existing business logic. This blog will cover all the details of how this is possible.

What is application business logic?

Before delving into OpenROAD, let’s start with a brief overview of what application business logic is. Application business logic includes the set of rules, processes, and workflows that define how an application operates and how it handles data and user interactions to deliver specific business functionality. It governs how an application processes and validates data, performs calculations, manages workflows, enforces business rules, handles errors and exceptions, and generates outputs. The application business logic also defines how the application is integrated with external systems and security controls to protect data, maintain data integrity, and prevent unauthorized access.

OpenROAD and preservation of business logic

When creating OpenROAD, Actian realized that applications require continuous adaptation and improvement as technology evolves, business requirements change, and new opportunities emerge over time. This is why OpenROAD’s key features and design principles focus so heavily on preserving business logic for application modernization projects as discussed below:

Model-Driven Development

OpenROAD makes it possible for developers to follow a model-driven development approach, allowing them to define the business logic of their applications using high-level models rather than low-level code. This helps to abstract away technical complexities and focus on capturing the essential business rules and processes.

Data Independence

OpenROAD provides a data abstraction layer that decouples the application’s business logic from the underlying database schema. This allows developers to define business rules and logic independently of the database structure, facilitating easier maintenance and future changes to the application.

Component-Based Architecture

OpenROAD applications are built using a component-based architecture that promotes code reuse, simplifies maintenance, and ensures consistency across the application.

Business Logic Encapsulation

Encapsulation separates the implementation details of the business logic from other parts of the application, promoting modularity, maintainability, and reusability. OpenROAD Server is a critical component of the OpenROAD platform, providing the runtime environment and infrastructure needed to deploy and execute OpenROAD applications effectively and allowing developers to encapsulate reusable business logic into modular components.

Integration Capabilities

OpenROAD provides integration capabilities that allow developers to incorporate existing business logic and functionality from other systems or applications. This enables organizations to leverage their existing investments in business logic while modernizing their applications with OpenROAD.

Version Control and Change Management

OpenROAD includes features for version control and change management, allowing developers to track and manage changes to the application’s business logic over time. This helps to preserve the integrity of the business rules and ensure that modifications are properly documented and auditable.

Modernize your OpenROAD applications

Your legacy database applications may be stable, but most may not meet the needs of digital business today. You don’t have to settle for the status quo. OpenROAD preserves business logic to reduce application modernization work. OpenROAD provides a flexible and scalable development platform that supports a model-driven development approach, data independence, a component-based architecture, encapsulation, integration capabilities, and version control. These features help organizations maintain and evolve their business logic effectively while developing and modernizing their applications.

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2024: When IT And AI Collide

Stressed to the limit and buried under busy work, IT teams were told to “do more with less” in 2023. That meant that despite more shadow IT, more security vulnerabilities, and more questions, these tech pros were equipped with the same resources or fewer. Now, as we look at a new year with new opportunities, […]

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Is Your Data Management Strategy Ready for the Future of Manufacturing?

In the rapidly evolving landscape of the manufacturing industry, data has become a cornerstone of innovation. From robotics and connected factories to operational efficiency, the potential for leveraging data is boundless. However, to harness the full power of data, manufacturers must ensure that their data management strategies are not only current but also future-ready. For this reason, organizations must consider critical needs when creating a robust data management strategy. They must ensure that this strategy aligns with manufacturing priorities and carefully consider the value of digital transformation.

Defining the Manufacturing Data Management Strategy

A data management strategy is the backbone of successful data utilization in manufacturing. It encompasses the integration, standardization, and secure data storage, ensuring it is governed and trusted. In the context of the future of manufacturing, this strategy must align seamlessly with industry priorities, such as enhancing efficiency, maintaining quality control, predicting delays, and fostering innovation while simultaneously reducing costs.

The Role of Data Strategy in Digital Transformation for Manufacturing

A forward-thinking data management strategy is indispensable for any manufacturer looking to embark on a digital transformation journey. As the manufacturing landscape becomes increasingly digital and automated, selecting the right platform is crucial. A well-crafted data strategy, as often stated, is at the center of every successful digital transformation. This ensures not just immediate gains but also future-proofs the business against evolving technological landscapes.

Technology is a catalyst for digital transformation in manufacturing, enhancing efficiency, agility, and innovation. Integrating advanced technologies empowers manufacturers to optimize processes, improve product quality, and respond more effectively to market demands. By leveraging technology, manufacturers can not only optimize operations but also get ahead of any disruptions to suppliers or supply chains.

Key Metrics for Measuring Manufacturing Digital Transformation

Measuring the success of digital transformation in manufacturing requires defined metrics that should be an integral part of any data management strategy. These metrics serve as benchmarks, allowing manufacturers to gauge the impact of their digital initiatives. According to Gartner, “36% of manufacturing enterprises realize above-average business value from IT spending in digitalization at a reasonable cost compared with peers.”

Other metrics to consider include:

Customer Engagement

Track metrics such as website traffic, social media interactions, and customer feedback to assess the level of engagement with digital platforms.

Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) Scores:

Use surveys and feedback mechanisms to measure customer satisfaction with digital services, products, and overall experiences.

Operational Efficiency

Assess improvements in operational efficiency through metrics like reduced process cycle times, decreased manual intervention, and streamlined workflows.

Employee Productivity:

Monitor changes in employee productivity resulting from digital tools and automation. This can include metrics like tasks completed per hour or efficiency gains in specific processes.

Cost Reduction:

Measure the cost savings achieved through digital optimization, such as reduced manual processes, lower maintenance costs, and improved resource utilization.

Data Quality and Accuracy:

Evaluate the quality and accuracy of data, ensuring that digital transformation initiatives contribute to improved data integrity.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV):

Evaluate the long-term value generated from each customer, factoring in repeat business, upsells, and customer loyalty influenced by digital initiatives.

Net Promoter Score (NPS):

Measure the likelihood of customers recommending your products or services as an indicator of overall satisfaction and loyalty.

Contextualized Data in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Industry 4.0 represents a paradigm shift in manufacturing, characterized by integrating advanced technologies, digitalization, and data-driven decision-making. Entering the era of Industry 4.0 necessitates manufacturers to have clear, concise, and contextualized data.

Real-time decision-making is a cornerstone of Industry 4.0, and clear data ensures that manufacturers can swiftly respond to dynamic conditions, optimize processes, and troubleshoot issues in real-time. Predictive maintenance, a key aspect of this industrial revolution, relies on contextualized data to anticipate equipment needs and minimize downtime. By harnessing clear and contextualized data, manufacturers can optimize production processes, implement robust quality control measures, and achieve end-to-end visibility in the supply chain. This level of data clarity facilitates customization and personalization in production, enhances energy efficiency, and supports the integration of connected ecosystems within the manufacturing environment.

Additionally, manufacturers can identify potential risks through clear data insights and implement strategies to mitigate uncertainties. Clear data is crucial for ensuring compliance with regulatory standards, a necessity in Industry 4.0, given the increasing focus on stringent regulations.

Actian’s Role in Manufacturing Data Management

Actian has decades of experience helping manufacturers create and implement robust data management strategies. Actian’s solutions enable data-driven decision-making processes, ensuring manufacturers not only stay competitive in the present but also remain agile and prepared for the future.

In the dynamic landscape of manufacturing, a well-crafted data management strategy is not just a necessity, it’s a roadmap to success. As the industry hurdles towards an era of unprecedented technological advancement, manufacturers must ensure their strategies are not only current but also forward-looking. It’s time to embrace the future of manufacturing by putting data at the forefront of operations, and Actian is here to guide that transformative journey. Start a free trial now.

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Three Myths About Generative AI in the Workplace – and How You Can Bust Them

In the past year or so, generative AI has received more media attention than any other type of technology. Up until this point, data science has been at the center of these innovation stories, and rightfully so: None of the next-generation technology tools can work without a strong data science program. As soon as generative […]

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7 Reasons to Move Mission-Critical Databases to the Cloud

Digital transformation refers to the integration and application of digital technologies, processes, and strategies across an organization to fundamentally improve how it operates and delivers value to its customers, the business, and others. It involves leveraging digital tools, data, and technologies to automate business processes, improve customer experiences, drive innovation, and support data-driven decision-making.

The adoption and growth of digital transformation are massive, according to Statista Research. “In 2022, digital transformation spending reached USD 1.6 trillion. By 2026, global spending on digital transformation is anticipated to reach USD 3.4 trillion.” A recent Gartner study reported that digital change is an organizational priority for 87% of senior executives and CIOs, requiring additional focus on data modernization.

Why Move Mission-Critical Databases to the Cloud?

Which digital transformation project(s) to pursue depends on your specific situation and goals to ensure successful outcomes. Moving mission-critical databases to the cloud is an untapped opportunity for many organizations, and it can offer tremendous advantages if they do not face compliance and confidentiality restrictions for cloud use or do not have complex legacy entanglements that make moving too hard. Explore these key benefits of cloud migration:

#1. Faster Business Agility: The cloud removes the need for infrastructure procurement, setup, management, and maintenance. Cloud migration helps organizations respond quickly to market changes, customer demands, and competitive pressures by quickly scaling to meet business needs. This agility can lead to a competitive advantage in dynamic industries.

#2. On-Demand Scalability: Cloud elasticity is useful in environments that require the ability to scale storage and compute up or down to match demand. Cloud-native deployments that offer cloud elasticity can ensure optimal performance even during peak usage periods, such as retail during busy holiday shopping or government at tax time.

#3. Greater Sustainability: The shared infrastructure of cloud providers allows for better economies of scale because they can distribute the cost of data centers, cooling systems, and other resources efficiently among many customers. And, instead of over-provisioning infrastructure in their own data center to handle occasional spikes in demand, organizations can dynamically adjust resources in the cloud, minimizing waste.

#4. Optimized User Experience: Regional data centers of cloud providers allow organizations to host databases closer to end users for better performance, responsiveness, and availability of applications. This is especially useful when low latency and quick data access are critical, such as electronic commerce, online gaming, live streaming, and interactive web applications.

#5. Stronger Security and Compliance: Major cloud providers invest significantly in physical security, network security, and data center protections that should keep mission-critical databases safe, provided organizations adhere to best practices for implementation and security. In addition, cloud providers often offer compliance certifications for various regulatory standards that can help simplify the process of adhering to industry regulations and requirements.

#6. Improved Backup and Recovery: The cloud allows organizations to create backups and implement disaster recovery more efficiently. This is crucial for safeguarding mission-critical data against unforeseen events such as data corruption, cyber-attacks, and natural disasters.

#7. Staff Optimization: Many database vendors offer managed or co-managed services in the cloud. These may include taking care of tasks such as provisioning, scaling, hardware maintenance, software patches, upgrades, backups, query optimization, table and index management, application tuning, and more. This leaves teams more time to focus on strategic initiatives with higher business value.

How Actian Supports Migration of Mission-Critical Databases to the Cloud

Actian recognizes that mission-critical database migration to the cloud represents one of the most exciting digital transformation opportunities, making a high impact on business agility, scalability, sustainability, data protection, and staff optimization. This is why we developed the Ingres NeXt Initiative to provide businesses with flexible options for infrastructure, software, and management of the Ingres database or Actian X running on Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and Amazon Web Services. Our cloud migration approach minimizes risk, protects business logic, lowers costs, reduces time and effort, and decreases business disruption.

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How Low-Code FileOps Ensures a Seamless Digital Transformation

In an era where data stands as the driving force behind the sweeping wave of digital transformation and GenAI initiatives, FileOps is emerging as a true game-changer. Defined as a low-code/no-code methodology for performing and streamlining file operations, FileOps enables organizations to expedite their digital transformation and GenAI initiatives by empowering them to effectively manage […]

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Why You Should Invest in Digital Transformation During Tough Economic Times

After grappling with an unprecedented global pandemic, the world finds itself navigating more uncertain times with rising inflation, historically high interest rates, and the U.S. wavering on the brink of another recession. With these uncertain times, CEOs are confronted with difficult decisions – such as where can we cut costs, and how can we reallocate resources to […]

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Strategies for Tackling Digital Transformation Resistance

The often-overused phrase “digital transformation” instills a sense of excitement and progress for many executives. But for some business leaders, digital transformation means intimidation or mystery. When the former group is tasked with selling data-driven technology initiatives to the latter group, they face formidable challenges. They must win hearts and minds to get buy-in, sometimes faced with […]

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The Role of IT in Data Governance

Information technology (IT) plays a vital role in data governance by implementing and maintaining strategies to manage, protect, and responsibly utilize data. Through advanced technologies and tools, IT ensures that data is securely stored, backed up, and accessible to authorized personnel. IT also enforces data governance policies and procedures, such as data classification and access […]

Unlocking Success with Digital Transformation: A Strategic Roadmap for the Board

Digital transformation presents organizations with immense opportunities, but seizing them requires a strategic approach and careful selection of appropriate technologies. A recent study conducted by Deloitte that examined financial disclosures from over 4,000 global organizations, spanning a decade, revealed that “the right combination of digital transformation actions can unlock as much as $1.25 trillion in additional market […]

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Why Embedded Innovation Is Key to Digital Transformation

“Digital transformation” is the hottest phrase of 2023, encapsulating everything from supply chain disruptions to the AI gold rush. It’s the challenge companies are undertaking to make sure they keep pace with today’s rapidly evolving technology and interconnected digital world. For business leaders, the biggest focus is on making sure their internal processes are intertwined […]

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What Technologies Should I Include in My Digital Transformation Strategy?

If your enterprise is about to undertake a digital transformation (Dx) project, you should understand that these initiatives require a focus on more than the technology itself. To succeed with a digital transformation strategy, the business must focus on business processes, day-to-day activities and tasks, and the culture within the organization, so that the environment […]

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