DataOps is a collaborative continuous information management practice focused on cultivating the communication, integration, and automation of data flows between data owners and data consumers across the organization.

To relieve bottlenecks and barriers in delivery of data and analytics solutions, organizations need to change the way they work. By introducing DataOps techniques in a focused manner, data and analytics leaders can affect a shift towards more rapid, flexible and reliable delivery of data pipelines and consumption of data assets. It requires senior management to champion sustainable DataOps practices, but the benefits are profound.

DataOps can deliver long-term sustaining impact to organizations that seek to be data-driven in their digital transformation journey.  Let’s identify the business and cultural practices that will yield game-changing benefits.

Democratize Data Ownership

Goodbye siloed thinking in the world of DataOps. Data is a fluid asset that belongs to the entire company, not one department or function. It will become everyone’s shared goal to find, share and exploit relevant data that can help the business thrive. Yes, security, compliance and controls are vital – and must not be compromised – but the underlying desire must be to offer universal access, wherever possible.

Use Existing Skills In New Ways

Data engineering, data quality, data profiling and data science are all vital functions in a DataOps infrastructure. Assembling, describing, and managing data correctly is key to its success. The result is a highly automated “Pull” data management model where data is instantly accessible to the right people in the right place at the right time. To get there, organizations need to acquire or develop new skill sets. The good news is that many of these transferable skills already reside in many organizations and can be nurtured and evolved.

Adapt Common Data Ecosystem Roles

Data and business analysts must be empowered to prepare data autonomously. Data stewards will be tasked with ensuring data quality and augmenting the richness of metadata; their role may even evolve into a data researcher – someone who proactively finds and suggests data for specific business needs.  Data Engineers will focus on identifying gaps and becoming real-time consultants. IT and operations will be focused on faster platform evolution and optimizing the DataOps infrastructure.

Treat Data as a High-Value Asset

Mindset and investment priorities must profoundly change, with business activity increasingly evaluated in terms of the value of the data that can be acquired or blended to create insights, as well as according to the activity’s measurable financial Impact. Your business must recognize the unique qualities of data as an appreciating asset that is also a sustainable and infinite resource.

Make Decision-Making Collaborative

With data flowing everywhere, autonomous systems will play a role in pushing decision-making throughout an organization. Cultural changes are one of the most challenging but necessary drivers to ensure that all data users have the level of autonomy and upfront empowerment for decision-making appropriate to their roles.

Digital transformation depends on a data-driven approach for decision-making across the business. A DataOps framework will accelerate this transformation. It drives cultural and “mindset” changes to democratize data ownership, leverage high-value skills and adapt to a data ecosystem that treats data as an asset.

Interested in all the DataOps components or want to understand how to get started? Contact us at Info@ctidata.com.