About the Paper

The Greek philosopher Heraclitus once said “everything flows and nothing stands still.” Nothing could be more true when it comes to data.

The volume of data is increasing, as are the number sources that generate it. Data organizations are changing to meet the growing demands of their business partners. Investments in data and data-related initiatives are rising. New approaches to managing data at scale are emerging. And data technology is evolving to better support the new regulations, new strategies, and new priorities of modern organizations focused on digital transformation.

Perceptions about data are changing too. Executives are putting their money where their mouth is in order to ensure their business becomes truly data- and analytics-driven. Business users are becoming more comfortable with data and are using it to drive better decisions. Data leaders are realizing that they need to expand their role to focus not just on implementing data technology, but on solving business problems. And that the value of data is most commonly realized in four key ways:

1. Cost savings that optimize direct and/or indirect spend

2. Increased growth, either by selling something new to existing customers, or selling existing products to new customers

3. Reduced risk across corporate, financial, customer, or product

4. Increased operational efficiency through the creation of more quantitative context for key operational processes and decisions. We spoke with data leaders and industry influencers who shared their perspectives on what we can expect in 2023. And while their insights were diverse - and sometimes contrarian - four consistent topics emerged:

• Data culture is changing quickly within organizations
  
• Data integration is both a key challenge and the keystone for realizing value from data
  
• Data governance is shifting its focus from source-based to consumption-based governance
  
• Data architecture is rapidly embracing the idiosyncratic reality and large number of raw data sources, both internal and external
  

Within these topics are 23 predictions for the year ahead. Let’s take a closer look.