The Business Case for Data Virtualization

Today, organizations are drowning in data, much of it inactive. On average, about 80% of an organization's data storage resources are taken up by inactive data. Because inactive data is seldom managed, organizations encounter significant challenges and costs when searching for, integrating, and making the most of their extensive and diverse data assets.

It will come as no surprise that data volumes continue to increase, traditional data storage, handling, and integration methods struggle to keep up. Data virtualization provides a next-gen solution, offering a more agile, efficient, and cost-effective approach to data storage, management, and analytics.

Understanding Data Virtualization Issues

Data virtualization is a modern data integration approach that provides real-time, unified access to data from different sources without physically moving or replicating the data. It creates an abstraction layer that allows users and applications to interact with data as if in a single virtual database, regardless of its physical location, format, or structure. This technology enables organizations to:

1. Access data in real-time from multiple sources with one dashboard

2. Integrate data on-demand without physical data movement

3. Provide a single, unified view of enterprise data

4. Enhance data governance and security

5. Reduce data redundancy and storage costs

6. Enable much faster search for eDiscovery and FOIA purposes.

The Business Value of Data Virtualization

Time and Speed Advantages of Data Virtualization

One of the most compelling arguments for data virtualization is its significant time savings. Speed is crucial for maintaining employee productivity and a competitive edge in today's fast-paced business environment. Data virtualization delivers on this front by enabling:

• Faster Data Delivery: Studies have shown that data virtualization can accelerate data delivery up to 10 times compared to traditional methods. This speed allows organizations to make critical decisions in real-time or near real-time, significantly enhancing their agility and responsiveness to market changes.

• Reduced Time-to-Market: Data virtualization can dramatically reduce the time required to develop new products or services by streamlining data access and integration. This efficiency can lead to faster innovation cycles and improved market positioning.

• Improved Operational Efficiency: With faster access to integrated data, employees can work more efficiently, reducing the time spent on data retrieval and analysis tasks.

Cost Savings and ROI

Data virtualization offers substantial cost savings compared to traditional data integration methods:

• Reduced Infrastructure Costs: By eliminating the need for physical data replication and storage, organizations can significantly reduce their data storage and infrastructure costs.

• Lower Development and Maintenance Costs: Data virtualization's simplified data integration approach reduces the complexity of ETL processes, leading to lower development and maintenance costs.

• Maximized ROI: Research has shown that data virtualization often benefits multiple business areas, with 35% of analyzed cases reporting benefits in more than one area. This multi-faceted impact maximizes the return on investment for data virtualization initiatives.

Enhanced Data Governance and Security

Data virtualization provides a centralized platform for implementing robust data governance and security measures:

• Unified Data Access Control: With a single virtual layer for data access, organizations can more easily implement and enforce consistent security policies across all data sources.

• Improved Data Lineage and Traceability: Data virtualization platforms often include features for tracking data lineage, enhancing transparency and auditability.

• Lower Data Exposure: Data virtualization limits physical data movement, reducing the risk of data breaches and unauthorized access.

Critical Use Cases for Data Virtualization

• Multi-Source Data Integration: Data virtualization offers a powerful solution for organizations with data spread across numerous locations and systems. It allows for seamless integration of data from various sources, including:

  1. On-premises databases

  2. Cloud storage systems

  3. SaaS applications

  4. Big data platforms

This capability is particularly valuable for enterprises undergoing digital transformation or those operating in hybrid cloud environments.

• Real-Time Analytics and Reporting: Data virtualization enables real-time or near-real-time analytics by providing immediate access to the most current data across all sources. This capability is crucial for:

  1. Financial services firms requiring up-to-the-minute market data

  2. E-commerce companies needing real-time inventory and sales information

  3. Healthcare providers accessing patient data from multiple systems

• Data Services and API Management: Data virtualization can serve as a foundation for creating data services and APIs, enabling:

  1. Easier sharing of data across departments or with external partners

  2. Development of new data-driven products and services

  3. Implementation of microservices architectures

• Regulatory Compliance and Risk Management: For industries subject to strict regulatory requirements, data virtualization offers:

  1. Centralized control over data access and usage

  2. Improved data lineage and audibility

  3. Enhanced ability to respond to regulatory inquiries and audits

Overcoming Implementation Challenges

While the benefits of data virtualization are clear, organizations should be aware of potential challenges, including:

• Incomplete Master Data Management (MDM): A robust MDM framework is crucial for successful data virtualization. Organizations should address any outstanding master data challenges before fully implementing data virtualization.

• Dispersed Subject Matter Expertise: Implementing data virtualization requires comprehensive knowledge of data across various domains. Identifying and engaging subject matter experts from different departments is essential for success.

• Governance Issues: A solid governance operating model is necessary to ensure security, compliance, and data quality in a data virtualization environment.

Best Practices for Implementing Data Virtualization

To maximize the benefits of data virtualization, organizations should consider the following best practices:

• Centralized Decision-Making: Establish a central authority for data virtualization decisions to streamline implementation.

• Shared Data Model: Adopt a common data model to enhance data reliability and consistency.

• Effective Governance Framework: Develop clear guidelines for managing the data virtualization infrastructure.

• Stakeholder Engagement: Ensure key stakeholders understand the benefits of data virtualization and are involved in the implementation process.

• Prioritize Data Security: Maintain a strong focus on data security.

Data Virtualization Success Stories

Numerous organizations across various industries have successfully implemented data virtualization to drive business value:

1. A leading U.S. bank used data virtualization to handle a 20-fold increase in loan requests during the COVID-19 crisis, enabling faster processing and improved customer service.

2. A global telecommunications company implemented data virtualization to create a unified customer view across multiple systems, improving customer service and targeted marketing efforts.

3. A healthcare provider used data virtualization to integrate patient data from various systems, enabling real-time access to comprehensive patient information and improving care quality.

4. A manufacturing company used data virtualization to optimize its supply chain operations by gaining visibility into inventory levels, production schedules, and transportation data.

The Future of Data Virtualization

As organizations continue to react to growing data volumes and complexity, the role of data virtualization is likely to expand. Future trends could include:

• Increased integration with AI and machine learning technologies

  • Consolidation and management of AI data training data sets

• Enhanced support for real-time streaming data

• Greater emphasis on self-service data access for business users (increased productivity)

• Expansion into new use cases, such as IoT data integration and edge computing

Data virtualization offers a powerful solution to the challenges of traditional data management for regulatory compliance. By providing a unified view of disparate data sources and improving data access, quality, and consistency, data virtualization can enable organizations to make better decisions, improve operational efficiency, and gain a competitive advantage.

Current data virtualization users will say that the potential benefits far outweigh the obstacles for most organizations. As businesses seek ways to leverage their growing data assets more effectively, data virtualization stands out as a critical technology for enabling agility, innovation, and competitive advantage. By providing a flexible, efficient, and secure approach to data integration and management, data virtualization empowers organizations to unlock the full potential of their data.

restorVault Data Virtualization

restorVault has been a leader in enterprise data virtualization solutions for many years and has been awarded three US patents that take data virtualization to new levels. restorVault’s data virtualization solutions provide organizations with several benefits, including:

• Enhanced data utilization and simplified data management capabilities

• Improved data availability and resilience

• Simplified scalability and flexibility

• Hybrid virtualization capability across both on-prem and cloud platforms

• Cost efficiency and investment protection (ROI)

• Data protection against disasters and ransomware attacks (data encryption and immutable storage)

• And the ability to duplicate, move, and share large, unstructured data sets without the need for time-consuming and risky large-scale data migrations

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restorVault’s data virtualization solution replaces files (based on policies) in an on-prem or cloud repository, such as a file share, with a pointer or virtual data file that points to the original file in the encrypted and immutable restorVault cloud.  Whenever a user clicks on a virtual data file in their local Windows file explorer, a copy of the actual file is instantly retrieved from the restorVault cloud platform for viewing and ongoing work.

RestorVault data virtualization frees up large amounts of costly tier 1 enterprise storage for priority use by active data.

This data virtualization into the immutable restorVault trusted cloud repository also eliminates the wasteful need for numerous backups of inactive data.  With your inactive files stored and managed in a secure, trusted, and inexpensive cloud repository, your enterprise backups will be approximately 80% smaller.

For every TB of restorVault virtual cloud storage, you could recoup 80% from primary, backup, and other cloud platform storage.

Contact us today to learn how restorVault can help your company save money by virtualizing and managing inactive data while increasing data security, regulatory compliance, and storage capacity!