Skip to main content Skip to footer

Blog

Accelerating modern data foundations with Databricks

3-MINUTE READ

November 18, 2021

Every company is living through an era of compressed transformation. Right now, most companies still have only 20-30% of their business in the cloud, but that will surge to 80% over the next few years. That’s not all. They won’t just be using a single cloud. The future is multi- and hybrid cloud. Large amounts of data will also be generated at the edge, so it’s important to think of cloud as a continuum and to have a modern data foundation that can operate seamlessly across different environments. That has huge implications for how companies can and must use data across multiple applications and systems to deliver the right experiences to the right customers, at the right time.

Key cloud stages

Every transformation journey powered by cloud goes through three key stages. First is migration, where applications and data are moved to your cloud provider. All types of data come together in one place as a powerful collective resource for the entire enterprise. Remember, working with a cloud provider shouldn’t be treated as a traditional procurement exercise. Leading companies don’t view cloud as a static destination or endpoint, but as a new operating model for innovation and a long-term partnership requiring C-level support.

All industries need to share data and share it in a secure way.

Next is acceleration where these capabilities are made cloud native. You need a strong modern data foundation to handle the high volume and variety of data from many disparate sources, and this cannot be found anywhere other than on cloud. All industries need to share data and share it in a secure way. And for that, a modern data foundation is going to enable the seamless management, governance and sharing of data across enterprises.

And third comes innovation and growth, where companies can unleash all the intelligence and insights that have been trapped under their data. This will enable them to power new growth, optimize processes and build products that are intelligent by design.

Moving through these phases as fast as possible is mission-critical in the drive to become truly data-driven, intelligent businesses. But very few companies are yet in a position to harness the power of their data at a strategic level. And as data volumes, variety and velocity increase at breath taking pace, the challenge becomes harder and harder to solve.

The data lake challenge

The good news is that most companies have already amassed huge volumes of data that have the potential to support their innovation and growth goals. The less good news? It's often stored in large data lakes and warehouses that make it hard to use and hard to manage.

So, what's the solution? Accenture and Databricks are working together on what we believe is a truly ground-breaking approach to the data challenge we’ve described. Databricks' Lakehouse platform provides a new way for companies to accelerate their digital transformation on cloud. It offers a single platform to unify data, analytics, and AI; open source, standards and formats to unify existing data ecosystems and secure collaboration tools that enable teams to work seamlessly together. The bottom line? The platform provides a "lake-first" approach that enables companies to make the most of the data that they already possess.

The power of partnership

The power of our partnership lies in the Databricks platform and Accenture's unique ability to build industry-specific solutions, services and accelerators that make use of it. Together, we enable enterprises to break down silos, create more agile and adaptive processes, and power data-driven decision making to solve business problems and identify new opportunities.

Up to now, when businesses have wanted to create a structured way to drive insights from their data they have often had to start from scratch with each project. Reinvention has been the order of the day. Accenture and Databricks enable customers to realize a much faster time to deployment.

Our partnership enables a "rinse and repeat" pattern, where success in one project can be easily replicated in another. In addition, these solutions are grounded in Accenture's decades of unparalleled industry and functional knowledge, so we can craft exactly the right approach for every company to solve the real-world challenges they face.

We're already putting our partnership to work for companies in a range of industries from pharma to food retail and financial services. These businesses are architecting for the future so they can continue to disrupt and outcompete in their markets, disaggregating and reaggregating their value chains to reimagine the services and experiences they offer.

To help them move fast and with confidence, we are doubling down on our investment in this partnership with a dedicated innovation center, specialized teams and training, and a suite of reusable artifact solutions that companies can harness to innovate faster. Learn more from Karthik Narain, Lead – Cloud First, Accenture and Ali Ghodsi, CEO, Databricks in their fireside chat.

Just the start

We're hugely excited about what this partnership has already achieved, and even more about where it can take our clients in the future. We've really only scratched the surface of the modern data foundation revolution that will transform every marketplace. And the Lakehouse paradigm has massive potential to underpin almost every digital transformation. It's no exaggeration to say that Accenture and Databricks are building the future of business innovation together. Let’s talk about how we could help your business realize its future.