Geodesic denotes the shortest possible line between two points on a sphere or any other curved surface. Propounded by Buckminster Fuller,  the geodesic dome, an architectural marvel, is an especially strong and surface-minimizing structure entailing the following three properties:

 

• Exceptional strength of the structure

• Energy efficiency of the structure 

• Minimization of construction materials. 

 

Enterprise ecosystem data too can be made limitlessly flexible to facilitate connection among all nodes by mimicking the concept of Geodesic.

 

Robert Waterman observed that companies were “data rich and information poor”, in his seminal work “In Search of Excellence”. That was more than three decades ago and little has changed since. Organizations of all shapes and sizes get “data richer” each passing day but they continue to remain information poor. Building data into business strategies eludes organizations regardless of investment in digital technology which fails to align their data efforts to the needs of the business. There is a way out though; companies can derive value from data by instilling a geodesic like data ecosystem (ability to connect highest level of parent to the lowest level of child in one single string, frictionlessly) to achieve:

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• Improved processes

• Improved competitive position

• New and improved products, stemming from better customer and market data

• Institutionalized information (building data into products and services)

• Improved human capabilities

• Improved risk management

 

This will allow the build-up of a good strategy by eliminating complexity and abstraction from all nodes of a business ecosystem. Aligning data efforts and strategy on these six value propositions will allow business leaders to fit powerful data concepts into the dynamic business picture, and vice versa.