Yes we all use data. The latest buzzwords nowadays either contain the word Big, Semantic and/or Data. Since companies collect more and more data, and attempt to work with more data than ever, the data seems to become more important. There is a trend to build a more and newer applications using that data, and collect even more. That new application is seen as our next data solution. We've become more data driven...
We might almost forget that the data was already there. The application simply uses it, registers it, multiplies it, amplifies it, but if not careful, also locks it up in its code lines. In the current trend of application development, data is getting copied, duplicated and obfuscated. All in the name of progress, agile value increments, and speedier development.
To make sense of all that, we annotate the data after we've collected it with semantic layers. No upfront design was needed, and we add semantics in a new propriety sollution or immature products, in isolation.
Anyone with a background in data realizes this is a fallacy. Data is data, and it should be described from a single point of definition to make it valuable. If we're no longer doing the regular and mundane housekeeping, the value of our data will be diluted by every new application we add to the mix. Especially if these applications are developed for a single purpose, single department or single solution. Data is bigger than that one-single-purpose piece of software.
Building more software is not the same as being data centric. Being data centric is a philosophy of caring for data over temporary software.
Therefor we also subscribe to the http://datacentricmanifesto.org/
