Data virtualisation can help to save both lives and economies

By creating such a logical architecture, data virtualisation enables those fighting Covid-19 to access data quickly and from anywhere

In just a matter of weeks, the Covid-19 crisis has had an unprecedented global impact on our health, workforces and economies. There are travel restrictions, factories have stopped production, and offices and schools are closed. Manufacturing is down and so is the stock market. There is no vaccine in sight, and by certain forecasts there won't be for another year. The end seems so far away.

Every one of us has faced a number of challenges over the last couple of months. Even those that have managed to avoid directly suffering with the virus's physical symptoms have not been immune from its effects.

Although there is currently no single silver bullet to dispelling the disease - and its wider impact - data integration, in particular data virtualisation, is swiftly emerging as a tool that could help to save both lives and economies.

The data challenge

Outbreaks such as Covid-19 become even harder to manage when pertinent information is not made readily available. From medical practitioners at the point of care, to businesses trying to navigate the changing landscape and maintain continuity, a lack of critical information prohibits decision-making.

Care givers and governments are unable to quickly determine how to contain the outbreak, and efforts to mitigate trade shortcomings and improve supply chains are near impossible.

The data challenge is nothing new. Often, regardless of industry, important information is dispersed across multiple data sources within an organisation. In hospitals, patient records can be found stored in various systems that can vary from department to department. In fact, each department may copy the same data to create their custom data marts.

That not only is resource- and time-intensive but may cause compliance issue as it deals with multiple copies of patients' PII information. Meanwhile, public sector organisations, governments and private businesses all store data across a network of on-premise, multi-cloud and third-party environments.

Whilst troublesome before, in the current crisis this system of disparate data sources is a real cause for concern. Those on the front-line need to be able to access the right data at the right time. Healthcare professionals must be informed of their patient's medical history in order to determine treatment, just as businesses need to know how their production capacity and work output is being impacted.

Data is knowledge, and knowledge is power. But this knowledge needs to be delivered quickly and effectively in order to inform decision-making during this time of uncertainty. It is only then that businesses will survive, governments can implement appropriate measures, and medical practitioners will save lives.

Fighting back

By bringing together data from disparate sources almost in real-time and making it available to medical staff, business owners and government officials - as well as the general public - data virtualisation is helping the world contain the outbreak, whilst reducing the economic losses due to the decrease in manufacturing and trade.

By acting as a ‘unified data delivery platform', it brings together data from sources such as data lakes, whether on-premises or in the cloud, other SaaS applications and traditional source systems, and creates a logical representation of a database in the form of a logical data warehouse, a logical data lake or logical data marts.

Data virtualisation also abstracts underlying source complexities so that business users can have seamless data access while IT departments make changes to the underlying source systems. By creating such a logical architecture, data virtualisation enables those fighting Covid-19 to access data quickly and from anywhere - without the need to replicate that data - so that they can take back control and start to counteract the effects of the global pandemic.

For example, hospitals can use data virtualisation to deliver integrated, 360-degree patient health views directly to healthcare professionals, enabling them to determine the optimal treatment route of care from the point of admission.

Meanwhile, healthcare agencies and research institutions can use the technology to assemble real-time information from hospitals about the number of cases, including intricate details in order to help inform containment logistics and accelerate vaccine creation. Businesses can glean the knowledge to help them reroute logistics and ensure continuity, and governments can use the insights to inform and advise the public on how best to handle the outbreak.

Whilst there is currently no single solution to eradicate the effects of Covid-19, being able to access the right data at the right time could help give those on the front line the upper hand. By providing an integrated view of all data across an organisation quickly and effectively, data virtualisation could help healthcare workers, businesses and governments all over the world to react fast. The powerful insights derived from data could help our Covid-19 heroes to make informed decisions, mitigate the risks and save lives.

Alberto Pan is chief technical officer at Denodo