Once thought of as playgrounds for data scientists, data lakes have evolved into enterprise resources that support the information needs of all business users. Some experts say data lakes have turned into“data swamps,” but our research shows otherwise. 

Our online assessment of approximately 100 organizations with a data lake shows that business users of all types are reaping value from data lakes. A majority of business users trust data in the data lake and can explore, author, and blend data with consistently fast query performance.

Despite the current backlash against big data platforms, it’s clear that organizations have figured out how to manage and govern data lakes, and business user confidence in data has grown. At the same time, BI vendors have optimized their point-and-click tools to work with non-traditional data types in large non-relational data sources.