Right now, we are in a data gold rush. With more companies and their processes in the cloud, IDC reports that enterprise data is growing at more than 40 percent annually, and organizations are scrambling to unlock this information boom to drive innovation.

The problem, however, is that today’s unprecedented data growth results in complexity. From multicloud to the Internet of Things (IoT), a varied ecosystem compounds data management challenges. The hard truth is that while companies gather more data than ever before, they struggle to access its value. In fact, most data available to businesses goes untapped, with only one-third of enterprise data put to work.

Businesses today are overwhelmed by the volume, velocity and variety of their data, and it is here where partners are well placed to provide forward-thinking solutions. In my most recent blog of the IaaS Partner Journey, we looked at shifting away from legacy databases for transformation in the cloud. Now, more than storing data in the cloud, let’s look at leveraging it with innovative solutions that are fit for the now and ready for the future.

The Difficulty of Unlocking Data Insights

In an age of high expectations, companies are consistently turning to data to make better-informed decisions. Data has become so important to organizational success that according to Gartner, by next year, 90 percent of corporate strategies will list information as a critical enterprise asset and analytics as an essential competency. Leading organizations know that in order to drive success in their industry, they must leverage data and analytics as a competitive differentiator, fueling operational efficiencies and innovation.

The importance of data is also paramount for partners with an eye on tomorrow. While digital technology continues to evolve from an advantage to a necessity, IT leaders are evermore conscious that their customers want to leverage smart, connected tech, make confident decisions at speed and scale and embrace new ideas, behaviors and technologies.

Achieving this, however, is no easy feat. There remain numerous roadblocks to properly extracting value from organizational data, including:

• Connected Devices: The data journey starts with devices that are connected and interact with cloud applications and other devices.
• Data Collection: Data sits across various dispersed systems, blocking visibility and easy access to relevant intelligence.
• Data Enrichment: Data needs to undergo ingestion, cleaning and transformation in order to provide value.
• Reporting: Businesses need analytics with dashboards and visual insights for decision-making.
• Build Cognitive Capacity: To put machine learning models into production, data also needs to be continuously fed into the system.
• Enable Predictability: The ability to accurately forecast trends is only possible when predictive capabilities are operationalized.

Amplify Customer Business with Data

The good news is that this data dilemma presents immense opportunities for partners. As organizations continue to increase their investments into tech stacks that boost their visionary potential, your business is strategically positioned to unlock this data and amplify their business. This can be achieved by expanding your offering with solutions around data collection, enrichment, reporting, cognitive capacity and predictive function.

In effect, the ultimate goal should be to help clients manage the full data cycle – offering a suite of solutions that transform and integrate business data, develop and train it further, and serve it to AI models that empower customers to realize their vision.

The result is a win-win for partners, who as a result evolve into long-term expert advisors that are one step ahead of the competition. Moreover, expanding in this data direction firmly secures your role as the customer’s strategic consultant where you not only manage their infrastructure but also offer guidance on how to pivot architecture and enable agility into the future.

Enable A New Way Forward

As technology continues to shape customer experiences and expectations, businesses realize that they will only remain relevant when they continue to innovate. At Ingram Micro Cloud, we help you understand the innovation journey and help your customers maximize the value of their data.

Innovation is all about enabling a new way forward for both your business and your customers. From assessing your customer’s current database and mapping out the steps of their migration, to quickly realizing the value of the cloud by offering ways to control costs, set up governance and exploit automation, the sky is the limit.

It is, however, important to foreground that getting to this point of the partner journey is a marathon and not a sprint. Innovation through extracting data value is a complex endeavor and requires a patient, holistic approach.

As we have illustrated, though, the rewards can be huge, and change is possible once organizations are optimized, secured, and ready to transform. The opportunity is here for select partners and now is the time to take advantage of the cloud and its full potential.

Author Info: Joyce Hofman, Global IaaS Lead, Ingram Micro Cloud

Joyce is an experienced Cloud leader within the IaaS and PaaS Cloud technologies. Her goals include building effective Cloud Journeys and GTM models.