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Watching "Avengers: Endgame" is not only a mesmerizing experience for comics fans of all ages but also an inspirational reminder for leaders of midsize businesses. Just like each superhero has a unique power that chips away at a seemingly formidable enemy, growing companies possess the unique agility to adapt to a world of rapid and continuous innovation.

But even the strongest, fastest, and most powerful superhero has a weakness – and for most growing companies, it’s data silos. In fact, according to IDC, simply capturing high volumes of data is not enough. Data is so diverse – from structured and unstructured to streaming events – that lack of integration between applications can weaken any competitive advantage.

Without an integrated, corporate-wide strategy, growing companies may find it extraordinarily challenging to run in a single direction. And this is why a disciplined approach to data management is needed to ignite superpowers that are so impactful that the largest competitors may find it difficult to keep up.

 

Superpower #1: Accessing all data in a distributed landscape in real time


A simple gateway to all data in the enterprise is quickly turning a future vision for cloud services into a present-day opportunity for growing companies. This approach provides a single source of data with a unified system, ensuring all decision-makers have complete information no matter where the data is stored.

With cloud services, midsize businesses can deliver high-availability systems that are resilient and enable process automation by taking advantage of four fundamental serverless principles:

  • Choice of payment options offered through a range of consumption-based subscriptions that do not require front-loaded costs to use

  • Flexible access to any data source in the cloud and on-premises, which enables a nondisruptive transition to sound data management practices and use

  • Smart consolidation and processing of distributed data that pulls together a scattered IT landscape with capabilities such as virtual access, caching, and replication

  • Greater capacity to store large data volumes regardless of variety of data types and sources used



 

Superpower #2: Converting data into actionable decisions


By adding machine learning to a data hub, the power of existing data management capabilities is elevated to real-time decision-making. Midsize companies can quickly access critical business insights by connecting, discovering, refining, governing, and orchestrating data intelligence all in one landscape.

Scaling artificial intelligence across the business allows growing companies to make processes more efficient. For example, machine learning models can be deployed and scaled through agile development by using any data in any format from any source – from Internet of Things data streams to data warehouses. Harnessing the full potential of distributed data intelligence empowers decision-makers to tackle emerging opportunities and risks early-on by assessing every feasible scenario in a matter of minutes.

 

Get ready to reveal your growing company’s superpowers


Building an effective digital platform that supports, streamlines, and strengthens data-driven innovation and decision-making is now more crucial than ever. For midsize companies, this is a defining moment of connected data assets, intelligent technologies, and business processes that will likely dictate their future growth for years to come.

Isn’t it time that your business finds its own superpowers in a world of diverse, contextualized, and ever-growing intelligence? Just think of the possibilities your workforce can achieve – even ones that were inconceivable only a few years ago.

 

This article originally appeared in Digitalist Magazine.