Data gravity, or the propensity for bodies of data to draw an expanding swath of applications and services into closer proximity, has been identified as a key megatrend impacting enterprises and service providers over the next decade, according to recently published research. Data gravity may affect an enterprise’s ability to innovate, secure customer experiences, and even deliver financial results on a global scale. The Data Gravity Index™ measures the creation, aggregation and private exchange of enterprise data and examines its impact on the Forbes Global 2000.
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Leaders at London-based Aon plc, a global professional services firm specializing in financial risk-mitigation products and number 485 on the Forbes Global 2000, believe that data gravity, and its impact on macro factors such as enterprise data stewardship and regulatory developments, is a megatrend that will present significant challenges for global businesses. “Understanding gravity and its impact on our IT infrastructure is a difference-maker for our operations and will only become more important as data continues to serve as the currency of the digital economy,” said Munu Gandhi, Aon’s VP of Core Infrastructure Services. “As enterprises become more data-intensive, there’s a compounding effect on business points of presence, regulatory oversight and increased complexity for compliance and data privacy that IT leaders are now being forced to solve.”
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Principal Research Analyst Eric Hanselman at 451 Research, part of S&P Global Market Intelligence, points to the looming impact of data gravity and the necessary context the “Gravity Index” provides. “Data gravity is the idea that data is an anchor that is often hard to move, especially as data volumes grow. If that growth takes place in public or private clouds that are not easily accessible by the enterprise using them, the full value of that data can’t be realized, and the enterprise will be trapped into spending exorbitant sums to free it.”1
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