The Data Product Revolution: A Market Study in Adoption Trends
There’s a revolution brewing in data. Organizations are shirking long-standing artisanal development habits and replacing them with a rigorous product-centric approach that puts the needs of target users front and center. The results of a recent Eckerson Group survey and record attendance at a recent Eckerson Group event on data products confirm this trend.
According to our survey, a majority of organizations are in the early stages of implementing data products, signaling that this trend will soon become a mainstream data management practice. Organizations are embracing data products to improve data quality, increase customer value, and foster data sharing among different parts of the business. They also see data products as a way to accelerate data development through the creation and reuse of data components.
The keys to implementing data products are defining what data products are, how they yield business value, and how they change conventional approaches to delivering data solutions. It’s also imperative that organizations create a “product mindset” by hiring skilled product managers, educating staff, and funding programs rather than projects. Finally, they need to implement a data product platform that facilitates the exchange of data products across business domains and breaks down data silos.
Key Takeaways
> Status. The majority of organizations (65%) have either implemented or are attempting to implement data products.
> Drivers. The biggest driver reported for a data products initiative is the “need to share data internally” (73%), followed by the “need for trustworthy data” (61%) and the “need for reusable components” (57%).
> Characteristics. A majority of respondents (58%) said a data product is targeted to a specific audience, shared across internal domains (52%), and stored in an internal product library or data marketplace (50%).
> Success rates. A plurality of survey respondents reported having a “very successful” or “moderately successful” data product implementation (41%).
> Challenges. The biggest challenges to implementing data products are “creating a product mindset” (70%), “defining a data product” (58%), and “governing data products” (48%).
Recommendations
Consider these recommendations to derive more business value from your data products initiative.
> Define what a data product is. Many have cited “not knowing” what exactly a data product is. It is important for your organization to educate executives and staff about data products and select use cases that drive business value.
> Establish a data product team. It’s critical to hire skilled product managers to lead the initiative or, at the very least, provide adequate training to get data people comfortable with the core concepts and practices of product management.
> Govern the data. Since data products contain an implicit or explicit contract about a product’s quality, timeliness, and completeness, it’s imperative that product teams bake governance into development processes.
> Foster collaboration. Data product initiatives work best when multiple departments within an organization collaborate. This interdisciplinary approach is required for governance and efficient data sharing.