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How Combining Data Mesh and Data Fabric with Modern MDM Turbocharges Digital Transformation

Ansh Kanwar, Senior Vice President of Technology at Reltio

“Getting information into the hands of experts who can drive maximum value from it remains one of the most significant barriers to digital transformation today. It’s an old problem and growing bigger by the minute as the volume of applications and silos expand exponentially. For example, one study predicts that enterprise data will increase at a 42% annualised growth rate in the next two years.

Despite having this information, many organisations are no closer to realising the data-driven holy grail.  Respondents in a recent survey, for example, reported that their organisations are making more “gut instinct” decisions versus just last year.

That’s why there has been much buzz recently around the potential for data “virtualisation” to fix these problems. Virtual data includes information architecture concepts such as data mesh and data fabric. Data virtualisation approaches do not solve the most significant point of friction most enterprises have, however, which is creating accurate, trustworthy core data in real-time.  Combining modern MDM solutions with a virtual approach can unleash the power of data and finally lead any organisation into the data-driven promised land.

Data Virtualisation Seeks to Solve the Silo Problem

Data silos are growing and creating big challenges for enterprises. Data is also always moving, it’s always morphing. Practitioners transform it, systems transform it, and much of it moves to the cloud, including cloud data warehouses, cloud data lakes, SaaS solutions, platform solutions, or master data management (MDM) solutions like Reltio. There is a secular and massive movement to the cloud as part of a broad trend toward digital transformation. As this march to the cloud continues, however, so too does the proliferation of apps, which collect increasingly more data every single day.

With so many data sources and storage locations, whether on-prem or in the cloud, accessing the data in an organised, structured and usable way remains problematic. Data virtualisation seeks to solve that through the seamless delivery of organised, actionable, and reusable data sets from data warehouses, data lakes, SaaS applications and other sources and place it into the hands of the right people for making critical business decisions. Virtual data can help organisations put the correct data into the hands of their experts and allow them to move towards data-led decision-making and give a competitive edge. These approaches seek to deliver fast access to actionable, domain-specific and reusable data products across an entire enterprise landscape to fuel analytics and other data-driven initiatives.

Enterprises are also demanding increasing speed. It’s a competitive advantage for companies to move from raw data to insight to action faster than their competitors. Innovation teams are demanding the ability to experiment faster, especially with machine learning, tweaking models to constantly optimise or feed the growth engine.

This is where data mesh and data fabric help bridge the gap from raw data pools to actionable data. So what are they?

Moving Data into the Hands of Domain Experts

Data lake architecture models have common failure modes that lead to unfulfilled promises at scale. Monolithic, centralised, data often resides outside the organisational domain that needs it. And the teams that manage the data storage and information pipelines aren’t well-versed in organisational domains that require quality, actionable. Data mesh is a concept that moves information from centralised lakes and warehouses and puts it into the hands of domain and subject matter experts. In this construct, data is treated as a product and owned by domain experts.  Data fabric is more akin to metadata, it is a catalogue system that identifies what information is available. Fabric can help domain experts, and analysts determine where data can be used.

Data mesh and fabric patterns apply to analytics – though fabric is more generic and stretches into operational use cases. Mesh and fabric approaches can be complementary and can be used together to build a mature enterprise-wide data program. Getting data into the hands of the domains that need it will help organisations move toward to promised land of digital transformation. 

MDM: Addressing the Root Cause of Untrustworthy Data

Data virtualisation concepts are catching on because the problem it seeks to solve continues to hamstring businesses in every sector – which is getting value from their own data. But organising, packaging and making data more readily available does not solve the data quality problem most enterprises have. Virtual data moves data through a more efficient pipeline but it doesn’t fix it.

Domain experts and business users not only need access to specific data, but they also need better quality information to make informed decisions. Core data, in particular, is the lifeblood of any enterprise. Core data is information about customers, vendors, locations, assets, and suppliers, among other things i.e. data that every organisation runs on – any of the vital information to a specific market segment.  The problem organisations have with core data is that it can reside in many different silos. And the core data is often inaccurate, outdated, or duplicated elsewhere.

This is why organisations undergoing digital transformations are frequently frustrated–poor quality core data is slowing them down, so– they spend more time and resources trying to fix those problems than they do gaining insight. Hence the recent trend we’ve seen where data-rich organisations are reverting to “gut instinct” decision-making. It’s easier to trust your gut than it is to trust bad data because you know the data is wrong. Simply migrating to a cloud data warehouse does not make that problem go away.

Clean Connected Data is the Foundation for any Data Architecture

Data virtualisation is here to stay. Data virtualisation promises to unlock the value of enterprise data, and deliver on the promise of evolving into a data-driven organisation. Mesh and fabric approaches can be complementary and can be combined to build a mature enterprise-wide data program. These concepts will help solve challenges organisations have today and will scale with them as they collect more data and create more silos.  Mastered core data, however, remains the foundational element for any virtualised data approach. That’s why we’re seeing MDM evolve from a reluctant to an indispensable spend. Every organisation is becoming a data-driven organisation, which requires domain expertise and high-quality, actionable information to make sound business decisions, satisfy its customers, and create more enterprise value.”

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Business

How can a payments strategy support business growth?

Source: Finance Derivative

Following the global economic upheaval brought on by the pandemic, businesses are once again prioritising growth on a global scale. While every business recognises the importance of expansion, their methods, obstacles, and risks differ greatly.

In the following article, Sonya Geelon, Chief Commercial Officer at Conferma, explores some of the most common challenges holding businesses back, and how by including innovative payments solutions in your payment strategy, you can successfully position your business to expand into global markets.

Barriers to global expansion

At Conferma, we wanted to know what businesses felt stood between them and their growth ambitions, so we spoke to 400 financial decision makers to find out.

The research, shared in our new Growth Ignition Index report, identified global expansion as a key priority for businesses looking to grow across all regions. Significant drivers included increasing customer demand (46 per cent), maintaining a consistent cashflow (36 per cent) and undertaking digital transformation (34 per cent.) Businesses also highlighted a number of barriers, such as identifying valuable markets to expand into (27 per cent) and navigating complex cross-border payment systems (13 per cent.) The following sheds light on some of the factors that businesses perceive to be hindering their growth.

Operational inefficiencies

It’s a well-known fact that operational efficiency is crucial for giving businesses the competitive edge. If your processes run smoothly and effectively, you’re likely in a good position to grow. However, a third (33 per cent) of businesses identified operational inefficiencies as a significant sticking point, particularly among small-and-medium sized organisations. This perhaps indicates that larger companies have already invested in boosting efficiency to a degree, however, the issue was noted across businesses of all sizes.

Complex cross-border payments

Successful growth relies heavily on being able to make fast, seamless transactions, however, recent research from Rapyd found that 38 per cent of businesses experience delays of five days or more when sending or receiving international payments.[1] Costs and delays in cross-border transactions can have a significant impact on growth, cutting into revenues, restricting cash flow and complicating financial planning. Our own research highlighted this, with 14 per cent of businesses reporting slow and/or complex cross-border payments as a significant barrier to expansion.

So how can businesses overcome these challenges and unlock global growth?

Taking your payments strategy virtual

Amid the array of payment options available in the market, virtual cards have emerged as a versatile solution, valued by users globally. According to Juniper Research, the global value of virtual cards will increase over threefold in just 5 years, climbing from $1.9 trillion in 2021 to a staggering $6.8 trillion by 2026.[2]

So how do they work?

Virtual cards are essentially digital versions of traditional credit cards. The technology generates a 16-digit card  number, allowing an employee to make payments without having to physically hand over a card. Instead, they provide the virtual card number, expiration date, and security code, just like they would with a regular credit or debit card.

Virtual cards come with built-in fraud and security features, enabling restrictions on usage. For instance, users can set a specific date range or limit usage to certain merchants. This ensures that any attempts to exceed the set amount, use the card at unauthorised merchants, or spend beyond the specified date range will result in a declined transaction.

Using a virtual card provider allows access to extensive, pre-existing payments ecosystems. For example, Conferma connects 75+ card issuers and banks across the world. This enables businesses to use virtual cards in 62 different currencies, making international payments frictionless while mitigating costly cross-border fees. Virtual cards can also help boost cashflow and improve operational efficiency, automating reconciliation and cutting lengthy processing times. By removing convoluted payment processes, virtual cards give businesses the freedom to grow in the markets they deem most valuable, not just most accessible.

Of those surveyed, four out of five  respondents (82 per cent) plan on expanding their virtual card usage in the next twelve months, with 64 per cent extending usage to additional payment needs. Businesses already using virtual cards also anticipate a substantial increase in the volume of payments they make virtually, with our data projecting a rise from 45 to 57 per cent of all payments being made using virtual cards in the next 12 months.

Virtual cards offer a compelling solution to the challenges limiting international growth by offering enhanced security, streamlined operational processes, and seamless cross-border transactions. By embracing virtual cards as a strategic tool, organisations can unlock opportunities for growth and innovation, empowering them to navigate the complexities of international commerce with ease.

[1] The 2023 State of Cross-Border Payments, Rapyd, 2023.

[2] Virtual Cards: B2B and B2C Applications, Competitive Analysis & Market Forecasts 2021-2026, Juniper Research

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Business

How can businesses make the cloud optional in their operations?

Max Alexander, Co-founder at Ditto

Modern business apps are built to be cloud-dependent. This is great for accessing limitless compute and data storage capabilities but when connection to the cloud is poor or shuts down, business apps stop working, impacting revenue and service. If real-time data is needed for quick decision-making in fields like healthcare, a stalled app can potentially put people in life-threatening situations.

Organisations in sectors as diverse as airlines, fast food retail, and ecommerce that have deskless staff who need digital tools accessible on smartphones, tablets and other devices to do their jobs. But because of widespread connectivity issues and outages, these organisations are beginning to consider how to ensure these tools can operate reliably when the cloud is not accessible. 

The short answer is that building applications with a local-first architecture can help to ensure that they remain functional when disconnected from the internet. But then, why are not all apps built this way? The simple answer is that building and deploying cloud-only applications is much easier as ready-made tools for developers help expedite a lot of the backend building process. The more complex answer is that a local-first architecture solves the issue of offline data accessibility but does not solve the critical issue of offline data synchronisation. Apps disconnected from the internet still have no way to share data across devices. That is where peer-to-peer data sync and mesh networking come into play.

Combining offline-first architecture with peer-to-peer data sync

In the real world, what does an application like this look like?

  • Apps must prioritise local data sync. Rather than sending data to a remote server, applications must be able to write data using its local database in the first instance, and then listen for changes from other devices, and recombine them as needed. Apps should utilise local transports such as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and Peer-to-Peer WiFi (P2P Wi-Fi) to communicate data changes in the event that the internet, local server, or the cloud is not available.
  • Devices are capable of creating real-time mesh networks. Nearby devices should be able to discover, communicate, and maintain constant connections with devices in areas of limited or no connectivity.
  • Seamlessly transition from online to offline (and vice versa). Combining local sync with mesh networking means that devices in the same mesh are constantly updating a local version of the database and opportunistically syncing those changes with the cloud when it is available.
  • Partitioned between large peer and small peer mesh networks to not overwhelm smaller networks if they try to sync every piece of data. In order to do this, smaller networks will only sync the data that it requests, so developers have complete control over bandwidth usage and storage. This is vital when connectivity is erratic or critical data needs prioritising. Whereas, the larger networks sync as much data as they can, which is when there is full access to cloud-based systems.
  • Ad-hoc to enable devices to join and leave the mesh when they need to. This also means that there can be no central server other devices are relying on.
  • Compatible with all data at any time. All devices should account for incoming data with different schemas. In this way, if a device is offline and running an outdated app version, for example, it still must be able to read new data and sync.

Peer-to-peer sync and mesh networking in practice

Let us take a look at a point-of-sale application in the fast-paced environment of a quick-service restaurant. When an order is taken at a kiosk or counter, that data must travel hundreds of miles to a data centre to arrive at a device four metres away in the kitchen. This is an inefficient process and can slow down or even halt operations, especially if there is an internet outage or any issues with the cloud.

A major fast-food restaurant in the US has already modernised its point of sale system using this new architecture and created one that can move order data between store devices independently of an internet connection. As such, this system is much more resilient in the face of outages, ensuring employees can always deliver best-in-class service, regardless of internet connectivity.

The vast power of cloud-optional computing is showcased in healthcare situations in rural areas in developing countries. By using both peer-to-peer data sync and mesh networking, essential healthcare applications can share critical health information without the Internet or a connection to the cloud. This means that healthcare workers in disconnected environments can now quickly process information and share it with relevant colleagues, empowering faster reaction times that can save lives.

Although the shift from cloud-only to cloud-optional is subtle and will not be obvious to end users, it really is a fundamental paradigm shift. This move provides a number of business opportunities for increasing revenue and efficiencies and helps ensure sustained service for customers.

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Business

When something personal fills an important gap in the market 

by Cécile Mazuet-Eller, founder of NameSwitch

There aren’t many business ideas that go from a personal experience to filling an important gap in the market. However, this is certainly the case for NameSwitch, the UK’s pioneering and only name changing support service launched in 2018. But what inspired its inception and what challenges did it face? Here, Cécile Mazuet-Eller, the founder of the company, in its seventh year, explains.

My entrepreneurial journey is a bit unusual in that it started from my own experience of going through a divorce, which became a pivotal turning point for me not only emotionally, but practically too. I wanted to remove my married name, and I had a visceral reason to do so as I really didn’t want to keep it. Feeling extremely frustrated at still receiving letters and official documents featuring my previous name, I was desperate to change it but like for so many people it became a stop-start, arduous task.

Once I started the process, I realised it was taking up far too much time I didn’t have; being a single mum to two young children and working full-time is no mean feat, so when I embarked on the name changing process I realised it wasn’t going to be easy.  Searching for a solution to help, all I came up with was a service covering the US and Canada, but nothing that worked for the UK, so in the end, I spent a whole year to get everything changed that had to be, which proved long and stressful to say the least.

Nurturing the idea

In the early days I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by positive people who had good contacts, and who saw the viability of my idea. Living in a small community filled with intelligent and well-rounded people, I wasn’t short of encouragement from them and friends, who recognised as well as I did there was a definite gap in the market. Working with a web development team in Serbia which was also recommended, I enlisted additional help from a university student on some research.

I always wanted to run my own business, and there were several reasons why I needed to embark on something new. As the only breadwinner in the house, there were mounting bills while balancing the demands of motherhood and other financial responsibilities. Cash was limited but what little I had was used carefully which I put into the business.

In the early stages, which included the development of the unique technology that underpins the service, I carved pockets of time at night and on weekends to create a strong foundation for the business. Creating something completely from scratch was like a form of healing, which is why it was and remains such a personal project.

Mulling over the idea for at least two years following the original lightbulb moment, the business was registered in 2015, with time needed for building the robust platform in order to  create a viable product. Drawing on my previous experience, I investigated overseas equivalents, financials and marketing intelligence ensuring there was a genuine need for the service in the UK. Fortunately enough I was able to share my plans with my employer at the time, who turned out to be my biggest supporters, becoming my first paying customer who purchased a NameSwitch for his ex-wife, who was getting married to someone else!

With a career in telecommunications and a degree in marketing, I was already used to hard work and having the support and encouragement from my telecoms team was extremely helpful.   

Support and coaching

Coaching was an important element of the start-up process, obtained through a wider network and some financial support from family,  with no other funding or investment being available.

The challenges

Presented with certain obstacles like all businesses are, there was a lot to juggle and at times it felt like too much but I managed to navigate the complexities involved. When Covid hit that was a huge set-back, given that our biggest target market was and still is, newly-weds. With all weddings being banned, it hit NameSwitch hard, but our saving grace were the people who used the time to change their name’s in lockdown, by doing something they previously didn’t have time for. Being 100% employed by the business by this stage, it turned into a year of survival and another big challenge.  

In 2022-2023 we concentrated on growth for NameSwitch, when me and my dedicated team were satisfied with the service, it was time to consider investment into PR, advertising and partnerships to increase brand awareness to reach the revenues that were needed.

In 2022-2024, it was forecast that 285,000 – 415,000 weddings will take place resulting from the pandemic, which has reflected well on the business in recent years. And amidst the trials and tribulations it’s proved to be both exhilarating and exhausting in equal measure.

With hindsight, there are certain things I’d have done differently, such as bringing in a partner early on to put us in a stronger position sooner, and adding more resource  to improve growth, but I know that’s all part of the steep learning curve and something to take with me to projects in the future.

Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs

For anyone contemplating their own entrepreneurial endeavours, I’d recommend to ‘one hundred percent go for it’ – but do not bet the house on it and whatever happens, embrace the journey.

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