In an era of rapid technological advancement, the ability to effectively manage data and implement AI solutions is crucial for businesses looking to stay ahead. Basil Faruqui, Director of Solutions Marketing at BMC Software, sheds light on the evolving landscape of DataOps and AI, and how businesses can optimise complex workflow automation to achieve success.
The Latest from BMC
BMC Software continues to drive innovation with its Control-M product line, enabling companies to automate and orchestrate business outcomes that rely on complex workflows. Faruqui highlights that BMC has made significant strides in DataOps, focusing on orchestration within this practice. Over the past year, the company has delivered more than 70 integrations with cloud services such as AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform, while also prototyping GenAI-based use cases to accelerate workflow development and optimisation.
Key Trends in DataOps
According to Faruqui, investment in data and analytics software remains strong, with estimates indicating that spending surpassed $100 billion last year. The landscape of Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and DataOps is becoming increasingly crowded, with over 2,000 tools now available. As businesses look to operationalise data initiatives, DataOps has become the blueprint for scaling these efforts. The rise of GenAI further underscores the need for robust data strategies that can handle new technologies and practices.
Crafting a Data Strategy
For businesses aiming to build an effective data strategy, Faruqui outlines three critical pillars: alignment with business goals, data quality and accessibility, and scalability in production. He stresses that data must be clean, accessible, and democratised across the organisation, allowing teams to make informed decisions. Moreover, a strong data strategy must include operational readiness from the outset, ensuring that scaling can occur seamlessly.
The Importance of Data Orchestration
Data orchestration is a cornerstone of DataOps, especially as companies deal with data spread across various systems, both on-premises and in the cloud. Faruqui emphasises the need for seamless integration of these disparate data sources, ensuring a smooth flow of information to support timely decision-making and minimising bottlenecks.
Customer Challenges in Data Orchestration
Businesses face increasing pressure to deliver data products quickly and scale them effectively. The rise of GenAI has added complexity, as organisations look to integrate new models, vector databases, and automation patterns into existing data pipelines. Faruqui notes that BMC’s Control-M platform provides a solution by allowing companies to plug in new technologies without the need for a complete overhaul of their infrastructure.
Top Tips for Optimising Data Orchestration
Faruqui advises companies to focus on interoperability between application and data workflows. Successful orchestration requires aligning data pipelines with broader enterprise systems, such as CRM and ERP applications. Control-M is uniquely positioned to manage these intricate dependencies, helping businesses maintain seamless operations between the application and data layers.
Opportunities and Challenges with AI
AI, and specifically GenAI, presents immense opportunities for businesses, but also challenges, as it rapidly evolves the data ecosystem. Faruqui believes that BMC’s adaptable orchestration platform offers a significant advantage, enabling companies to incorporate new AI technologies into their existing workflows.
Real-World Success: Domino’s Pizza
Domino’s Pizza is one example of a company leveraging BMC’s Control-M to orchestrate its complex data pipelines. With more than 20,000 stores globally, Domino’s manages over 3,000 data pipelines, integrating data from various sources to drive decisions related to customer satisfaction, food quality, and operational efficiency. Control-M provides end-to-end visibility, helping Domino’s meet strict service-level agreements and scale new business services.
Looking Ahead for BMC
BMC’s strategy for the coming year will focus on enabling customers to use Control-M as a single point of control for orchestrating workflows across modern cloud infrastructures. Faruqui hints at further developments in serverless cloud services and persona-based user interfaces to facilitate collaboration between engineering, operations, and business users. Additionally, BMC plans to integrate data quality more deeply into its orchestration processes, ensuring that data quality becomes a first-class citizen in both application and data workflows.
In a world where data and AI are becoming ever more central to business success, BMC Software is positioning itself as a key player in helping companies navigate the complexities of these technologies. By focusing on scalability, interoperability, and seamless orchestration, BMC is empowering businesses to achieve more with their data strategies.
