Going the Open Source Way for Data Management

In the ever-evolving digital world, data is exponentially increasing in terms of both volume and complexity. Whether the data is in a structured or unstructured format, it is extracted, loaded, and transformed from inside and outside the organization and used across systems and applications on the cloud, on-premises, and hybrid infrastructures. Furthermore, almost all platforms contain and manipulate data elements – be it consumer-related, product-related, sales-related, or technology-related – forming a connected data ecosystem where its success is a factor of communication and cohesion.

As a result, the perception of data utilization has shifted from confinement and restriction to openness and transparency. At present, companies have started to believe in the liberation of data in lieu of the obvious business benefits. Breaking data silos and allowing unrestricted communication between different systems grant agility and innovative insights while reducing the operational costs. Furthermore, organizations that invest in leveraging data-driven analytics can also drive differentiation by delivering enhanced experiences.

However, implementing, integrating, monitoring, patching, updating, and even licensing of data management and analytics platforms is a costly affair. Additionally, the upskill talent and secure infrastructure required for end-to-end data management tools form a potential obstacle.

Organizations today can optimally use open source technology and unlock the true value of data

Open-source solutions overcome almost all these challenges all the while enabling innovation, improving agility, reducing development/operational costs, and minimizing vendor dependency. Be it operating system, middleware, apps, and platforms or IT infrastructure; open source solutions offer multiple ways to solve problems. 

Open source software does not restrain IT specialists and data engineers to transform and deploy data pervasively. It empowers everyone by giving developers flexibility and freedom and has a robust information security record because of the fast responsiveness to information security problems. Open source solutions are also more cost-effective alternatives than proprietary solutions as they give enterprises the ability to start small and scale later without incurring a huge cost. Use of open source tools/software(s) is typically fruitful for data management, acting as a catalyst for infusing innovation.

The adoption trend of open source software is visible across industries. The list of IT ventures accelerated by this technology is a long one. Hadoop, Apache Spark, and MongoDB are a few of the big data initiatives powered by open-sourced tools. Similarly, web development is marked by AngularJS, Node.js, Eclipse Che, and React, among others. Cloud services such as OpenStack and Docker also deploy open-sourced tools. As for data management, Talend and Pimcore are two of the forerunners. 

Open source solutions will continue meeting enterprise needs as they evolve

Successful data management today means breaking down data silos with a singular consolidated platform instead of rationalizing old data and deploying new data solutions across the enterprise. Doing so results in seamless interaction between different data sources and efficient management of the growing data sphere. 

Selecting technologies means committing to solutions that will support the growing business through the years, so it requires careful consideration and foresight. The selection of data management solution, open-sourced or not, depends on both the short-term and long-term vision of the organization. Organizations ideally consider a plethora of aspects, including: 

• Establishing a consolidated data platform that empowers all business units for collaboration and centralization
• Creating an open, API-first architecture that integrates any app anywhere, for any data-type, at any scale
• Providing flexibility and fast accommodation of next-gen technologies like conversational commerce, AI, IoT, and blockchain – the solution should support emerging cloud-active infrastructure to handle increasing data needs
• Lowering the cost of technology barriers for intelligent data management 
• Establishing a single user interface that provides simplified operation and control

Enterprises looking to make use of open source data management platform will find plenty of great reasons to do so. The solution has brought revolutionary innovation to business and technology – doing something exciting without building something new! One can use the existing and emerging forms made available through open access and do something different with them. This promotes creative democracy with the least restriction and lowest friction. Hence, it is safe to say that open source solutions will have a demand rage in the industry today and tomorrow!

Want to know more about Pimcore open-source platform, schedule a FREE demo.