Executive summary

Cloud data platforms have become a key component of enterprise data architectures, playing a central role in many organizations’ digital transformation strategies. That is not simply because they offer multipurpose, scalable and cost-effective storage. It is because they foster more agile data operations, cut through siloed architectures and unlock the potential of artificial intelligence and machine learning to drive new trusted business insights. 

Those core benefits help address many of the challenges that companies face in executing their digital transformation programs. Across all industry verticals, companies are collecting much greater volumes of data, which points to the need for scalable, cost-effective solutions. They are also collecting a greater variety of data (including structured, semi-structured and unstructured data) that is difficult to describe via a single schema. This points to the need for multipurpose storage. Most importantly, they need to quickly derive insights from these diverse datasets, which points to the need for agile data operations and sophisticated analytics (particularly AI/ML capabilities).