The IT Department Becomes a Data Broker

To keep pace with changing business requirements resulting from advancements in data management and analysis techniques, the traditional role of the IT department is evolving to that of a data broker. As a data broker, it is up to the IT department to also ensure data availability and reliability to support the decision making process in the business. Clearly, the IT department must develop the capabilities to support the business more closely. In particular, storage professionals should be prepared for their new role which will require different skills and competences.

In this Knowledge Sharing article, Nick Bakker and Paul Wu define the role of data broker in terms of activities and responsibilities, along with relations of the data broker with the environment. They perceive five important functions for data management:

1. 1. 1. determining business value of data
      2. identifying data sources
      3. performing governance
      4. creating sandboxes for data analysis
      5. complying with legislation

To perform these functions, the IT department should become a data broker. The data broker understands the demands of the business, has a clear picture of the data sources, and possesses the tools to deliver the required data to the business. The data broker should redefine its service strategy and service design to be able to add value to the business with data.

The article highlights the challenges that the IT department will encounter in its transition to data broker and how these challenges can be overcome from an IT service management perspective. It begins by exploring the changing requirements of the business regarding the use of data, continues with the data management challenges met by the IT department and what is needed to support the business more closely, and concludes with a brief look at how to prepare the IT department for data management.

Read the full article.