Business information systems (IS) have developed incrementally. Each new operating need has generated an ad hoc application: ERP, CRM, EDM, directories, messaging, extranet and so on. IS development has been driven by applications and processes. Each new application has created another data silo, with the result that companies today are faced with a new challenge: how to manage and extract value from this disparate, isolated data. Meanwhile, the economic climate, globalization and the Internet are bringing enormous pressure to bear on companies, as they cope with more intense competition. In order to succeed, they need to streamline their organization and unleash the creativity of their workforce. Access to relevant information has major implications for both decision-making and implementing strategy. How can you make more effective use of your data? Companies looking to deliver a solution without delay need an agile information system, one that gives employees easier access to the information they truly need to do their jobs. The new applications required within each functional realm must be developed from existing data, without creating a new warehouse or adding complexity. The critical question facing companies today is this: “Using the data that already exists in your applications, how much time will it take to create new information that meets the needs of each operational division, and how much will it cost?” Some answers have emerged, but they provide only a partial solution The solution: create a unified information space We need to think about access to information within a unified space that receives data from every source in the company. Think of silos as subsections of a single data space fed by every application--a space from which it’s possible to create new services. But how can we create this unified space? By what process and using what technology? The evolution of the Internet has brought us the Semantic Web and Linked Data Linked Enterprise Data (LED) is the application of the Linked Data to the corporate IS. Its strategy and technology represent a comprehensive response to the challenge of creating an agile, high-performance information system: internal data sources are linked together and eventually consolidated with external data. Linked Enterprise Data introduces a change in perspective. Far more than simply aligning silos, it breaks down walls and interconnects the data itself at the most detailed level. LED creates a coherent, dense and unified informational space that draws on all of the company’s documents and data. Linked Enterprise Data: a pragmatic approach, an agile process An immense benefit: your data is finally free! Linked Enterprise Data returns data  management to the IS Department and offers greater autonomy to the business units and the users: data usage is no longer dictated by applications. LED lets you consolidate all your accessible information and opens up a who

1. www.antidot.net
Linked Enterprise Data
Data at the heart of the company
Business information systems (IS) have developed incrementally. Meanwhile, the economic climate, globalization and the Internet
Each new operating need has generated an ad hoc application: are bringing enormous pressure to bear on companies, as they
ERP, CRM, EDM, directories, messaging, extranet and so on. cope with more intense competition. In order to succeed, they
IS development has been driven by applications and processes. need to streamline their organization and unleash the creativity
of their workforce.
Each new application has created another data silo, with the
result that companies today are faced with a new challenge: Access to relevant information has major implications for
how to manage and extract value from this disparate, both decision-making and implementing strategy.
isolated data.
How can you make more ef
fective use of your data?
Companies looking to deliver a solution without delay need an agile The critical question facing companies today is this: “Using the
information system, one that gives employees easier access to the data that already exists in your applications, how much time will
information they truly need to do their jobs. The new applications it take to create new information that meets the needs of each
required within each functional realm must be developed from operational division, and how much will it cost?”
existing data, without creating a new warehouse or adding complexity.
Some answers have emerged, but they provide only a partial solution
Various solutions have appeared over the past twenty years These various tools undoubtedly provide operating benefits, but in
that attempt to tackle the problems raised by data proliferation. most cases they entail a long and costly deployment process and
Business Intelligence addressed the task of capturing and mining make the system more complex. And none of them offers a genuine
quantitative data. Master Data Management seeks to resolve solution to the challenges of a scalable IS:
the problem of duplicate and divergent data among silos. Unlike
a centralized approach to data reconciliation, the SOA strategy ooling data to create information that will provide an
p
of information system urbanization proposes peer-to-peer operational service;
data exchange among applications. Search engines provide a ntegrating and distributing data between applications, both
i
strictly documentary view of IS content, generating long lists internally and externally with its ecosystem;
of documents bereft of any functional context. And big data roviding an information infrastructure that emphasizes
p
simply offers a technology stack for handling petabytes when agility and ease of use.
the “relational data-centric” model will no longer suffice, without
offering a functional solution. Therefore, we need to look beyond the issue of technology and
change the paradigm by placing the data at the heart of our approach.
The solution: create a unified information space CRM
We need to think about access to information within a unified
M
ER
CRM ERP
EC
P
P
space that receives data from every source in the company.
Think of silos as subsections of a single data space fed by every
application--a space from which it’s possible to create new
services. ECM E-mail Files
But how can we create this unified space? E-m s
ail File
By what process and using what technology?
« Through 2015, organizations integrating high value,
diverse, new information types and sources into a coherent
»
information management infrastructure will outperform their
industry peers financially by more than 20%.
Gartner – september 2011

2. The evolution of the Internet has brought us the Semantic Web and Linked Data
Originally designed to serve as a universal document publication Still, the Web’s content can only be mined by humans. Computers
system, the Web has radically evolved over the past 15 years. are not able to understand this information and use it to resolve
With the advent of Web 2.0 and social networks, it has been complex problems. Web 3.0, also known as the Semantic Web,
transformed into an interactive ecosystem in which the user has is the latest iteration of the Web, in which computers can process
come to assume an active role. Its impact has also been felt in and exchange information automatically and unambiguously.
the technological realm, since companies have had to adapt The goal of the Semantic Web is to go well beyond simple
their information systems to the principles and technology behind access to raw data by providing a way of interweaving this data.
the Web: a single tool, the browser, and a single language for This process, known as Linked Data, creates a decentralized
presenting data, HTML. knowledge base at Web scale, in which the value of each piece of
information is enhanced by its links to complementary data.
Business application: Linked Enterprise Data
Linked Enterprise Data (LED) is the application of the Linked Linked Enterprise Data introduces a change in perspective.
Data to the corporate IS. Its strategy and technology represent Far more than simply aligning silos, it breaks down walls and
a comprehensive response to the challenge of creating an agile, interconnects the data itself at the most detailed level. LED
high-performance information system: internal data sources are creates a coherent, dense and unified informational space that
linked together and eventually consolidated with external data. draws on all of the company’s documents and data.
Linked Enterprise Data: a pragmatic approach, an agile process
Scalable and flexible by nature, Linked Enterprise Data can
Linked Enterprise Data the contrary: a Linked Enterprise Data strategy can begin
On Linked Enterprise Data
be used to create the operational information needed in with a small-scale project that will offer a quick response to a
each functional unit, without modifying existing applications or targeted functional need as well as a demonstrable return on
disrupting the IS. Thus, LED isn’t a cathedral whose construction investment. The project proceeds in pragmatic fashion, with an
requires a company to rethink its organization, revamp its analysis of the available data and ideal use scenarios. Each new
information system or anticipate every possible application or project and need will gradually enlarge the informational graph,
scenario from the outset. Linked Enterprise Data
without undermining the Enterprise Data to yield enhanced value and
Linked initial results, Linked Enterprise Data
generate new applications—so the virtuous circle behind Linked
Enterprise Data is closed.
Linked Enterprise Data Linked Enterprise Data
Linked Enterprise Data
An immense benefit:
your data is finally free!
Linked Enterprise Data combines the benefits of BI, MDM, SOA
Linked Enterprise Data
LED
Linked Enterprise Data
Linked
Enterprise LED
Linked Enterprise Data
and search engines to:
Data
returns data management to
reate links among existing data, with each link
C
representing another new piece of information that responds to the IS Department and offers
Linked Enterprise Data Linked Enterprise Data Linked Enterprise Data
user needs. greater autonomy for both
reak down data walls by offering an information hub that
B
allows each application to draw on data from throughout the IS.
business units and users: data
Provide an open, standardized, secure, long-term, high- usage is no longer dictated
performance technological environment defined by the by applications. LED lets you
W3C using the XML, RDF, SPARQL and OWL standards.
consolidate all your accessible
Reduce complexity through a unified methodology for inter-
application data exchange, regardless of whether the data is information and opens up a
company-internal or external. whole range of possibilities!
www.antidot.net info@antidot.net