What Should Go Into a Data Mesh Strategy?

by
David Romeo
and
Manish Limaye

What Should Go Into a Data Mesh Strategy?

|

November 14, 2022

Data mesh (i.e., decentralizing data management and information as a singular product) is an exciting opportunity for businesses to organizationally take their data to a new level. But it’s important to create the right strategy around implementation. Approached sensibly, it can accelerate your data operations greatly while also delighting end users.

This has been a long time coming given that organizations have traditionally organized, managed, and governed data. Traditional models relied upon IT, which often inadvertently resulted in bottlenecks. However, a data mesh strategy allows companies to put more data ownership in the hands of flexible, independent, small, and domain-focused teams. 

How your team approaches the challenge of implementing data mesh strategies will make all the difference in how it fairs. Keep these things in mind as you begin your data mesh journey:

1. Start with the end in mind. 

Part of your data mesh work strategy should tie toward a subset of business objectives that aim to delight and support internal customers and users. To do that, you must first get a clear understanding of what your customers’ needs are. Then, focus on how you can organize and analyze your data in a way that achieves those goals more efficiently and effectively than your competition.

2. Have the right leadership.

For data mesh architecture to really take off, you need to have leaders who believe in it as a business strategy. Your leadership should expect to continually examine assumptions and rapidly iterate with improvements. You want to prioritize the consumption mechanisms based on how the users are expecting to receive the data. For example, this could mean looking for an effective way to bake machine learning into data products with excellent data integration tools while not sacrificing user-friendliness.

3. Adopt the right mindset.

How? By creating an intuitive user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) and always thinking in terms of prioritizing data as a product. Ask yourself and your team questions such as: What if we interviewed internal consumers like data scientists? What if we created personas and journeys? What if we developed intuitive front-ends that let our internal users easily get the results they need? This sort of questioning can move you toward adopting the right mindset.

4. Bring the organization along.

As data mesh architectures become more prevalent, equal or greater focus should be placed on the end-user experience. Wise managers will make sure teams work carefully with data experts to modify and continue building the best data product possible that are easy — and even delightful — for end users to work with.

Data mesh provides an exciting opportunity in the data world today, and it’s poised to become a dominant model in the coming years. It will continue to evolve with better-defined technologies and refined approaches. Organizations that start now will forge the path ahead and reap the benefits sooner than their competitors — as long as they spend the requisite time on solving "last mile" problems and ensure the platforms they build and deploy are usable internally and externally.

Contact Allata to learn more about how Allata guides clients along their data mesh journey.

David Romeo

David Romeo is a Vice President for Allata and is based in Dallas/Fort Worth. He has spent the last 14+ years leading development teams, project delivery, solution and enterprise architecture, account management, as well as providing thought leadership across a breadth of technology solutions. He has experience in a variety of industries including retail, healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, and logistics. David’s passion for technology has him leading multiple service offerings at Allata including Enterprise Solutions and Advanced Integrations. When away from the office, David enjoys spending time with his wife, two children, and mixing in the occasional round of golf.

Manish Limaye

Manish Limaye, a Vice President at Allata, is an established consulting professional and business operator with over 25 years of experience delivering world-class solutions to various clients. He holds a B.S. in Computer Engineering from the University of Kansas and an M.B.A. from Southern Methodist University.

A fierce advocate of Design Thinking, Manish works with clients to take a User-Centered approach to business strategy and product development. Like Tron, he fights for the User. Manish enjoys building high-performing design cultures that deliver consistently and work well within a traditional consulting model. He is a lifelong learner skilled at bringing a diverse group of talented individuals together to provide solutions that meet or exceed expectations.

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