Closing the Gap

The gap is closing between data teams and business teams.

Why’s that gap closing?

Arguably the most meaningful technological trend of the 50 years is the rise of cloud computing systems. Amazon Web Services (AWS), Oracle, Azure (Microsoft), and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) have been the key drivers of cloud computing touching nearly every company and industry.

A main casualty? Server rooms.

Simply put, instead of a company running their applications, websites, and software solutions on their own computers (i.e. servers) you can remotely rent them from a cloud provider.

The server room is no longer in your office basement, it’s at Azure’s (or AWS or GCP) massive dataset center.

Instead of buying, installing, configuring, patching, and updating servers in an on-premises server room, you let the cloud manage all that.

The Cloud is like renting a car. You don’t change the oil, put air in the tires, or even wash it. You rent, you drive, you return. Everything is taken care of.

How does this close the gap between data teams and business teams?

The cost, complexity, and technical skill required to bring new software, databases, or analytical applications online drops dramatically. I don’t need IT to order, install and configure a new server when my team needs a new database solution. With a few clicks, I can configure and deploy new servers designed specifically for my use case.

IT and data teams are still required. But many tasks are abstracted away allowing closer collaboration and integration between groups.

Which creates new opportunities to thrive at the beautiful intersection of data and business.

I’m here,

Sawyer

p.s. Cloud computing changed the nature of hardware (renting instead of buying servers), but it’s also issued significant software trends. More on that tomorrow.