Enterprises run on data, and the biggest wins go to organizations that know how to collect, store, manage, and analyze that data most effectively. Making this happen requires harnessing critical insights from an ever-growing number of data sources, both structured and unstructured.

In the beginning, computer data was structured and fairly straightforward to store and manage. Information fit into relational databases, like Excel spreadsheets and SQL databases, with predefined data models. Some of this data remains structured, which is easy to search and manage and lives on the hard drive as structured files.

Back in the day, we also had unstructured data in the form of content repositories, file-shares, and home directories. However, as computing technology continues to evolve, new unstructured data workloads are emerging that don’t fit into the simple table structure. This unstructured data includes audio files, images, video footage, sensor data, and social media posts. It also includes text files and documents that need context to parse—think notes typed into a customer service application during a call or a transcript of witness testimony in a court case.