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The Essential Tools to Support Digital Transformation - Part 5

APMdigest asked experts from across the IT industry — from analysts and consultants to users and the top vendors — for their opinions on the essential tools to support digital transformation. Part 5 is all about data.

Start with The Essential Tools to Support Digital Transformation - Part 1

Start with The Essential Tools to Support Digital Transformation - Part 2

Start with The Essential Tools to Support Digital Transformation - Part 3

Start with The Essential Tools to Support Digital Transformation - Part 4

CONTENT MANAGEMENT AND RECORD MANAGEMENT

Digital transformation presents opportunities to rethink and reinvent workflows, business processes, and customer service. Enterprise content management and records management provides instantaneous digital access to relevant information, with minimal effort. From a records management standpoint, built-for-purpose content services apps allows to integrate and manage information from previously isolated processes and silos –— meaning policies can now be applied to a much larger content pool. Policy application can now be automated, metadata and classifications are determined in the background, based on rules specific to the business process. Productivity and satisfaction increase as all this interconnected and analyzed content can now be surfaced in the right context across an organization's value chains and citizen-facing services.
Stephen Ludlow
Senior Director, Enterprise Product Marketing, OpenText

DATA PROCESSING

Digital transformation is a vague phrase with an unclear definition. One thing that is clear is the competitive value of being able to process and analyze the vast amount of data being generated by modern systems in a timely and effective manner. One must-have tool for harnessing this data is a fast and general engine for large-scale data processing. This tool provides high performance access to these dynamic but complex data collections, and provides interactive functionality which enables you to make better decisions more quickly and with a higher degree of confidence.
Jeremy Garcia
Manager, Community and Open Source Programs, Datadog

DATA INTEGRATION

The crux of Digital Transformation is to obtain competitive advantage or improve efficiencies through actionable analytics. Thanks to on-demand access to powerful, scalable technologies, the cloud is ideally suited to consolidate data sets for high performance, integrated analytics. With efficient, continuous integration of high volumes of data between numerous sources and targets such as cloud infrastructures and increasingly ubiquitous data lakes, real-time data integration technology is the key enabler for Digital Transformation. The efficient and secure movement of data between sources and targets will allow organizations to derive more value from their data.
Mark Van de Wiel
CTO, HVR

DATA MANAGEMENT

The tool that is able to search, enrich and create useful information out of the petabytes of data that is being generated is the most important tool for digital transformation.You need to make sure you can measure what your users are doing but also be able to monitor and improve your infrastructure. Everything from the hardware to the software and the user needs to stored and correlated to make sure you can make the right decision.
Coen Meerbeek
Online Performance Consultant and Founder of Blue Factory Internet

CLOUD DATA MANAGEMENT

An organization that is truly committed to digital transformation must face the reality that a traditional on-premises data center is very often not the best venue for many types of digital initiatives. Digital transformation, therefore, inevitably leads to federated operations and infrastructure. Tools that enable the management of data and operations in a cross-cloud, multi-cloud environment are essential to long-term success in digital transformation.
Serge Shats
CTO, JetStream Software

DATA STORAGE

We see data storage as being the most crucial in digital transformation. Clearly, the most appropriate data storage solution evolves over the stages of the data life cycle. Not all stages are equal between the ingest or creation to the obsolescence and deletion of the data. Most critical is the active storage phase when the storage solution needs to deliver high performance to serve end-users in real time, be scalable to grow with expanding data sizes, reliable so it overcomes temporary hardware deficiencies and most importantly, cost effective.
Pierre Evenou
CEO, Rozo Systems

FOCUS ON DATA

The most important factor to successful digital transformation is not a tool or technology, it's a mindset: an openness to putting data at the center of strategy and discovering the technologies best suited to transforming the business. Digital transformation must center around a data-driven opportunity. When companies force digital transformation, they often rush changes to one (or two) of three key factors: people, processes or technology. Therein lies the risk: change without sufficient focus on the data can cause a ripple effect of roadblocks and silos. A data-centric approach brings together the right people, practices and technologies –— such as analytics tools, AI and machine learning platforms, distributed application models, and in particular new data protection and management approaches –— to swiftly and safely dig out valuable insights from multiple data types and sources. In the coming years, new edge, core and cloud architectures will lead to data being even more distributed and dynamic than today. Digital transformation that's data-driven will enable real-time analysis at the edge and ensure the right data is being retained and protected for later decision making.
Mark Bregman
SVP and CTO, NetApp

Read The Essential Tools to Support Digital Transformation - Part 6, covering the development process.

The Latest

According to Auvik's 2025 IT Trends Report, 60% of IT professionals feel at least moderately burned out on the job, with 43% stating that their workload is contributing to work stress. At the same time, many IT professionals are naming AI and machine learning as key areas they'd most like to upskill ...

Businesses that face downtime or outages risk financial and reputational damage, as well as reducing partner, shareholder, and customer trust. One of the major challenges that enterprises face is implementing a robust business continuity plan. What's the solution? The answer may lie in disaster recovery tactics such as truly immutable storage and regular disaster recovery testing ...

IT spending is expected to jump nearly 10% in 2025, and organizations are now facing pressure to manage costs without slowing down critical functions like observability. To meet the challenge, leaders are turning to smarter, more cost effective business strategies. Enter stage right: OpenTelemetry, the missing piece of the puzzle that is no longer just an option but rather a strategic advantage ...

Amidst the threat of cyberhacks and data breaches, companies install several security measures to keep their business safely afloat. These measures aim to protect businesses, employees, and crucial data. Yet, employees perceive them as burdensome. Frustrated with complex logins, slow access, and constant security checks, workers decide to completely bypass all security set-ups ...

Image
Cloudbrink's Personal SASE services provide last-mile acceleration and reduction in latency

In MEAN TIME TO INSIGHT Episode 13, Shamus McGillicuddy, VP of Research, Network Infrastructure and Operations, at EMA discusses hybrid multi-cloud networking strategy ... 

In high-traffic environments, the sheer volume and unpredictable nature of network incidents can quickly overwhelm even the most skilled teams, hindering their ability to react swiftly and effectively, potentially impacting service availability and overall business performance. This is where closed-loop remediation comes into the picture: an IT management concept designed to address the escalating complexity of modern networks ...

In 2025, enterprise workflows are undergoing a seismic shift. Propelled by breakthroughs in generative AI (GenAI), large language models (LLMs), and natural language processing (NLP), a new paradigm is emerging — agentic AI. This technology is not just automating tasks; it's reimagining how organizations make decisions, engage customers, and operate at scale ...

In the early days of the cloud revolution, business leaders perceived cloud services as a means of sidelining IT organizations. IT was too slow, too expensive, or incapable of supporting new technologies. With a team of developers, line of business managers could deploy new applications and services in the cloud. IT has been fighting to retake control ever since. Today, IT is back in the driver's seat, according to new research by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) ...

In today's fast-paced and increasingly complex network environments, Network Operations Centers (NOCs) are the backbone of ensuring continuous uptime, smooth service delivery, and rapid issue resolution. However, the challenges faced by NOC teams are only growing. In a recent study, 78% state network complexity has grown significantly over the last few years while 84% regularly learn about network issues from users. It is imperative we adopt a new approach to managing today's network experiences ...

Image
Broadcom

From growing reliance on FinOps teams to the increasing attention on artificial intelligence (AI), and software licensing, the Flexera 2025 State of the Cloud Report digs into how organizations are improving cloud spend efficiency, while tackling the complexities of emerging technologies ...

The Essential Tools to Support Digital Transformation - Part 5

APMdigest asked experts from across the IT industry — from analysts and consultants to users and the top vendors — for their opinions on the essential tools to support digital transformation. Part 5 is all about data.

Start with The Essential Tools to Support Digital Transformation - Part 1

Start with The Essential Tools to Support Digital Transformation - Part 2

Start with The Essential Tools to Support Digital Transformation - Part 3

Start with The Essential Tools to Support Digital Transformation - Part 4

CONTENT MANAGEMENT AND RECORD MANAGEMENT

Digital transformation presents opportunities to rethink and reinvent workflows, business processes, and customer service. Enterprise content management and records management provides instantaneous digital access to relevant information, with minimal effort. From a records management standpoint, built-for-purpose content services apps allows to integrate and manage information from previously isolated processes and silos –— meaning policies can now be applied to a much larger content pool. Policy application can now be automated, metadata and classifications are determined in the background, based on rules specific to the business process. Productivity and satisfaction increase as all this interconnected and analyzed content can now be surfaced in the right context across an organization's value chains and citizen-facing services.
Stephen Ludlow
Senior Director, Enterprise Product Marketing, OpenText

DATA PROCESSING

Digital transformation is a vague phrase with an unclear definition. One thing that is clear is the competitive value of being able to process and analyze the vast amount of data being generated by modern systems in a timely and effective manner. One must-have tool for harnessing this data is a fast and general engine for large-scale data processing. This tool provides high performance access to these dynamic but complex data collections, and provides interactive functionality which enables you to make better decisions more quickly and with a higher degree of confidence.
Jeremy Garcia
Manager, Community and Open Source Programs, Datadog

DATA INTEGRATION

The crux of Digital Transformation is to obtain competitive advantage or improve efficiencies through actionable analytics. Thanks to on-demand access to powerful, scalable technologies, the cloud is ideally suited to consolidate data sets for high performance, integrated analytics. With efficient, continuous integration of high volumes of data between numerous sources and targets such as cloud infrastructures and increasingly ubiquitous data lakes, real-time data integration technology is the key enabler for Digital Transformation. The efficient and secure movement of data between sources and targets will allow organizations to derive more value from their data.
Mark Van de Wiel
CTO, HVR

DATA MANAGEMENT

The tool that is able to search, enrich and create useful information out of the petabytes of data that is being generated is the most important tool for digital transformation.You need to make sure you can measure what your users are doing but also be able to monitor and improve your infrastructure. Everything from the hardware to the software and the user needs to stored and correlated to make sure you can make the right decision.
Coen Meerbeek
Online Performance Consultant and Founder of Blue Factory Internet

CLOUD DATA MANAGEMENT

An organization that is truly committed to digital transformation must face the reality that a traditional on-premises data center is very often not the best venue for many types of digital initiatives. Digital transformation, therefore, inevitably leads to federated operations and infrastructure. Tools that enable the management of data and operations in a cross-cloud, multi-cloud environment are essential to long-term success in digital transformation.
Serge Shats
CTO, JetStream Software

DATA STORAGE

We see data storage as being the most crucial in digital transformation. Clearly, the most appropriate data storage solution evolves over the stages of the data life cycle. Not all stages are equal between the ingest or creation to the obsolescence and deletion of the data. Most critical is the active storage phase when the storage solution needs to deliver high performance to serve end-users in real time, be scalable to grow with expanding data sizes, reliable so it overcomes temporary hardware deficiencies and most importantly, cost effective.
Pierre Evenou
CEO, Rozo Systems

FOCUS ON DATA

The most important factor to successful digital transformation is not a tool or technology, it's a mindset: an openness to putting data at the center of strategy and discovering the technologies best suited to transforming the business. Digital transformation must center around a data-driven opportunity. When companies force digital transformation, they often rush changes to one (or two) of three key factors: people, processes or technology. Therein lies the risk: change without sufficient focus on the data can cause a ripple effect of roadblocks and silos. A data-centric approach brings together the right people, practices and technologies –— such as analytics tools, AI and machine learning platforms, distributed application models, and in particular new data protection and management approaches –— to swiftly and safely dig out valuable insights from multiple data types and sources. In the coming years, new edge, core and cloud architectures will lead to data being even more distributed and dynamic than today. Digital transformation that's data-driven will enable real-time analysis at the edge and ensure the right data is being retained and protected for later decision making.
Mark Bregman
SVP and CTO, NetApp

Read The Essential Tools to Support Digital Transformation - Part 6, covering the development process.

The Latest

According to Auvik's 2025 IT Trends Report, 60% of IT professionals feel at least moderately burned out on the job, with 43% stating that their workload is contributing to work stress. At the same time, many IT professionals are naming AI and machine learning as key areas they'd most like to upskill ...

Businesses that face downtime or outages risk financial and reputational damage, as well as reducing partner, shareholder, and customer trust. One of the major challenges that enterprises face is implementing a robust business continuity plan. What's the solution? The answer may lie in disaster recovery tactics such as truly immutable storage and regular disaster recovery testing ...

IT spending is expected to jump nearly 10% in 2025, and organizations are now facing pressure to manage costs without slowing down critical functions like observability. To meet the challenge, leaders are turning to smarter, more cost effective business strategies. Enter stage right: OpenTelemetry, the missing piece of the puzzle that is no longer just an option but rather a strategic advantage ...

Amidst the threat of cyberhacks and data breaches, companies install several security measures to keep their business safely afloat. These measures aim to protect businesses, employees, and crucial data. Yet, employees perceive them as burdensome. Frustrated with complex logins, slow access, and constant security checks, workers decide to completely bypass all security set-ups ...

Image
Cloudbrink's Personal SASE services provide last-mile acceleration and reduction in latency

In MEAN TIME TO INSIGHT Episode 13, Shamus McGillicuddy, VP of Research, Network Infrastructure and Operations, at EMA discusses hybrid multi-cloud networking strategy ... 

In high-traffic environments, the sheer volume and unpredictable nature of network incidents can quickly overwhelm even the most skilled teams, hindering their ability to react swiftly and effectively, potentially impacting service availability and overall business performance. This is where closed-loop remediation comes into the picture: an IT management concept designed to address the escalating complexity of modern networks ...

In 2025, enterprise workflows are undergoing a seismic shift. Propelled by breakthroughs in generative AI (GenAI), large language models (LLMs), and natural language processing (NLP), a new paradigm is emerging — agentic AI. This technology is not just automating tasks; it's reimagining how organizations make decisions, engage customers, and operate at scale ...

In the early days of the cloud revolution, business leaders perceived cloud services as a means of sidelining IT organizations. IT was too slow, too expensive, or incapable of supporting new technologies. With a team of developers, line of business managers could deploy new applications and services in the cloud. IT has been fighting to retake control ever since. Today, IT is back in the driver's seat, according to new research by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) ...

In today's fast-paced and increasingly complex network environments, Network Operations Centers (NOCs) are the backbone of ensuring continuous uptime, smooth service delivery, and rapid issue resolution. However, the challenges faced by NOC teams are only growing. In a recent study, 78% state network complexity has grown significantly over the last few years while 84% regularly learn about network issues from users. It is imperative we adopt a new approach to managing today's network experiences ...

Image
Broadcom

From growing reliance on FinOps teams to the increasing attention on artificial intelligence (AI), and software licensing, the Flexera 2025 State of the Cloud Report digs into how organizations are improving cloud spend efficiency, while tackling the complexities of emerging technologies ...