Legacy Data: Untapped Treasure or Technological Tombstone?
- March 12, 2024
As a former CIO, I’ve spent countless hours and significant budgets wrestling with the enigma of legacy data. We’ve all been there – investing heavily in large-scale data projects to convert and integrate aging systems, only to be met with disappointing returns on investment (ROI). It’s a tale often told in hushed tones in CIO and CDO circles: a graveyard of failed data initiatives that, according to industry reports, plagues a staggering 77.8% of traditional projects. This statistic, coupled with others like VentureBeat’s finding that 87% of data science projects never see the light of day and NewVantage Partners’ report revealing that 56% of organizations fail to see expected results from their data science efforts, paints a concerning picture. This isn’t just anecdotal; it’s a widespread challenge.
One specific project comes to mind. We embarked on a multi-million-dollar endeavor to migrate a critical legacy system holding years of customer data. The promise was clear: improved efficiency, enhanced customer insights, and a competitive edge. However, the reality was far less glamorous. The project dragged on for months, exceeding budgets and deadlines. The migrated data turned out to be riddled with inconsistencies and errors, requiring extensive cleansing and validation. We simply no longer had the subject matter experts to make sense of the data that we were trying to convert. After spending significant time and money, we realized the effort would not deliver on the goals. The project was ultimately cancelled providing a hard-learned lesson (or two) and left a bitter taste in the boardroom.
My experience, and the many others shared by peers, is forcing us to rethink our approach to legacy data. We collectively agree that simply throwing money and traditional approaches at the problem isn’t the answer. We need strategic, contemporary approaches that focus on pragmatic ways to unlock the true value of our data.
For years, businesses have invested heavily in data infrastructure – warehouses, lakes, operational platforms, and more. The promise: a treasure trove of insights to drive strategic decision-making. The reality? Often, a vast collection of legacy data, siloed, underutilized, and gathering dust.
But wait, what if I told you there’s a way to unlock the true value hidden within your legacy data, avoiding the pitfalls of the past and transforming it into a strategic asset? Before we write off our legacy data as a technological tombstone, consider this: it holds immense, untapped value. With the advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI), graph database technology, and other contemporary data management capabilities, you can unlock this hidden potential rapidly and practically, paving the way to truly becoming a data-driven organization.
At Cymonix, here’s how we think about breathing new life into your legacy data and empower everyone in your company to benefit:
1. Unleash the Power of AI & Graph Databases:
Traditional data analysis is often slow and resource-intensive. However, AI combined with graph database technology empowers you to extract insights from vast amounts of data quickly and efficiently. Graph databases excel at representing relationships between data points, allowing AI algorithms to identify complex connections and patterns that might be missed in traditional relational databases. This unlocks valuable insights for improving, among other areas, product innovation, operations, customer success, finance, talent management, sales & marketing, etc.
2. Focus on Business Value, Start Small, Scale Smart:
Forget trying to “boil the ocean” and pre-plan for every potential data need upfront. Instead, identify specific business challenges in a specific area of your business that, when solved, will lead to specific business value / outcomes. A few examples to illustrate the point:
- Business Operations: Analyze a subset of historical production data from factories to help identify patterns and inefficiencies in your manufacturing processes, leading to reduced waste and improved production yields.
- Financial Management: Combine customer data with historical sales figures, to predict customer churn with greater accuracy. This can allow you to proactively engage with at-risk customers and retain valuable business.
- Customer Success: Leverage legacy data to personalize the customer experience on your website. By analyzing past interactions and preferences, you can anticipate customer needs and provide more targeted content, recommendations, and support.
Once you have a manageable use case and are leveraging AI, graph database technology, and other modern data management tools, you are positioned to deliver quick wins and showcase the value of your data. This goal-oriented approach ensures tangible results that impact your bottom line. The added bonus with these new approaches is that you will realize value in a fraction of the time and with a fraction of the cost as the “old ways.”
3. Evolve, and Build on Your Momentum:
By avoiding the “boil the ocean” scenario and by focusing on achieving quick wins with your initial project, you create positive momentum. In turn, these early successes will serve as a springboard to evolve your data strategy. As you learn and iterate, build on your learnings and expand your data landscape one impactful use case at a time. This iterative approach allows you to organically grow a comprehensive enterprise data and AI strategy, one that fosters data-driven decision-making across the entire organization from the very beginning. This ongoing process ensures that your data strategy continuously adapts to your evolving needs and maintains its momentum, driving organization-wide value along the way. As importantly, this approach creates positive advocacy for ongoing investments by creating real, practical value for your business peers. Seeing the tangible benefits firsthand fosters a culture of data-driven decision-making and secures crucial buy-in for future data initiatives.
4. Democratize Your Data: Unleash the Collective Genius:
- Innovation flourishes: Everyone has the information they need to identify new opportunities and develop creative solutions.
- Operations become more efficient: Data-driven insights can streamline processes, eliminate redundancies, and improve overall efficiency.
- Customer success thrives: By understanding customer needs and behavior better, you can personalize experiences and build stronger relationships.
- Profitability increases: Data-driven decisions can optimize resource allocation, reduce waste, and ultimately, boost your bottom line.
- Market leadership is solidified: Informed decision-making allows you to stay ahead of the curve and respond quickly to market changes.
By democratizing your data, you tap into the collective brilliance of your workforce. This empowers everyone to contribute meaningfully and see the direct impact of their work on the organization’s success. This not only leads to better business outcomes, but also fosters a more engaging and satisfying work environment.
Remember, your data journey is not a one-time destination, but a continuous evolution. By focusing on business value, starting small, scaling smartly, and democratizing your data, you can transform your legacy data from a burden into a strategic asset. This unlocks the hidden treasures that pave the way for a brighter future where everyone in your company benefits from the power of data.
At Cymonix, we’re on a mission to break the mold and help you unlock the true value in your data. We fundamentally believe that together we can quickly tackle complex data challenges with an entirely new breed of data management platform, powered by AI and inspired by your data – wherever it may live!
Please follow us on LinkedIn as we continue the discussion and explore new and innovative ways of thinking about this age-old set of challenges. We’re excited to share our insights and help you unlock the full potential of your data!
