Why Data Virtualization Is the Future

Big Data  

The best virtualization software out there can transform relational data into non-relational data without a problem. Virtualization transforms your mainframe into an actual virtualization platform. This is an unbelievably cost-competitive way for getting to the information you need whenever you need it.

When you think about the important processes your company relies on, you may or may not touch on the way your data is managed at some point. If you’re like a lot of people, you might actually take this vital process for granted. There’s nothing particularly exciting about data management, especially when you compare it to things like marketing and sales funnels. Yet there is a lot of potential here for improving how your company operates. That’s why you should definitely invest in data virtualization. No matter what line of work you’re in, this technology could make all the difference.

Why the Current Way You’re Handling Data Is on the Way Out

Don’t get us wrong. While the way you’re currently doing things with your data is far from ideal, it’s not like you’re alone. Most companies are still operating like they were a decade or so ago where their data is concerned. Like we mentioned, it’s not as though this type of thing gets the same attention or is treated with the same kind of enthusiasm as other aspects of business.

Still, let’s look at why the traditional method of accessing information in your mainframe just won’t cut it for much longer.

When you rely on data management via yesterday’s systems, data movement and replication has to go through point-to-point integration. The same goes for intermediary servers and connectors. This creates unnecessary hurdles where there are already enough in the first place.

Furthermore, the future isn’t bright for this type of approach. For one thing, it costs a lot of money to handle data in this way. That’s money that you could be using for a number of other activities. On top of that, a lot of your competitors may have already made the move to data virtualization or are in the process of doing so. This is going to hurt your ability to stay in competition with them.

When you consider how much data is being produced on a daily basis, though, it becomes even clearer that something has to change. In the next 10 years, for example, your company is going to produce all kinds of information. We’re not just talking about things like sales copy or posts on your social media pages. Think about the amount of information that comes with every transaction. Consider all the data that goes along with your sales funnel.

Related articles Augmenting Human Capability  Researchers Bypass The Blood-Brain Through the Nose  Energy Efficient Brain Simulator Outperforms Supercomputers

This is what is referred to as Big Data. The sheer amount of information that is being created is truly hard to grasp and it’s only growing in size. You absolutely have to have software for dealing with this exponential growth. Obviously, you can expect this to add to your overhead as well.

Finally, your customers aren’t going to be impressed—or even understand—if you can’t get a hold of data you have in your own storage on demand. Whether it’s to answer a question they have about their account or facilitate a transaction, the point is the same: you have to be able to get that information or suffer losing credibility with your customers.

A Solution Is Here: Data Virtualization 

With this type of software, you can harvest data from various sources within your digital infrastructure. This is going to be key for most organizations, especially those that have been in business for 10 years or more and most likely have a fragmented storage facility at the moment.

You can overcome this type of problem with data virtualization, though. It’s a specific way of handling all the data your company produces and stores, including the type you may already have stored from years and years before even leveraging the platform.

With this type of software, you can harvest data from various sources within your digital infrastructure. This is going to be key for most organizations, especially those that have been in business for 10 years or more and most likely have a fragmented storage facility at the moment.
Best of all, you can get a hold of this data, spread out though it may be, from a single interface. Basically, you just implement a search and the software handles separating and abstracting the results you need.

Obviously, this provides you with a high degree of flexibility and adaptability. Whatever your interior systems may currently look like, whatever the type of data is that you’ve been storing, how you’ve been doing it or how you use it, you can make these platforms work in the best possible way for harvesting it.

No longer do you have to struggle with the inconvenience of physically moving the data you want. From now on, the metadata necessary for creating a virtual view of your company’s data sources will always be available. As a result, you get a faster and more agile method for accessing and combining data as necessary.

Sources you can now run through whenever you like include:

• Mainframe
• Cloud
• Distributed
• Big Data

Whether you have them now or know you will in the future, virtualization is the solution you need for conducting productive searches.

Why Virtualization Works

There are many other reasons to love what virtualization has to offer. The main thing it does that the traditional method can’t do, though, is transform your mainframe into an actual virtualization platform. This is an unbelievably cost-competitive way for getting to the information you need whenever you need it.

That’s to say nothing of the better security you’ll get too. Obviously, you don’t want to invest in a solution that can find your info, but makes it easier for prying eyes to do so as well.

Yet, virtualization is still the more affordable option when compared to the way most companies are still doing things. That’s even when you take into consideration the growth of Big Data we’re all about to see.

As we mentioned, formats don’t really matter anymore. The best virtualization software out there can transform relational data into non-relational data without a problem. Again, it doesn’t matter where your data is located either. By turning your mainframe into a platform that makes virtualization possible, you have an all-powerful, easy-to-use software at your fingertips.

Going forward, any company that wants access to its own information is going to need a reliable data virtualization platform for the job. Don’t be the company that still has dust on their methodology in the 21st century.

By Mike Miranda

Embed

Author Bio - Mike Miranda writes about enterprise software and covers products offered by software companies like Rocket Software.about topics such as Terminal Emulation, Legacy Modernization, Enterprise Search, Big Data and Enterprise Mobility.