Modern DataOps with unified governance: Revolutionizing data management with watsonx.data

As businesses embrace data-driven strategies, the complexity of managing data governance across diverse environments has grown exponentially. Organizations now require governance solutions that not only enforce robust access controls but also ensure compliance with regulatory standards across hybrid and multi-cloud landscapes. IBM watsonx.data’s latest innovation—unified governance for Modern DataOps—delivers the flexibility and control needed to address these challenges head-on.

By introducing an enhanced Common Policy Gateway (CPG), watsonx.data enables seamless integration with third-party policy engines, such as Apache Ranger, offering businesses a unified governance solution that adapts to their unique requirements.

DataOps relies on smooth, consistent workflows to transform raw data into actionable insights. However, disparate governance systems often create bottlenecks, with isolated access controls and fragmented policies slowing down progress. Watsonx.data's CPG addresses these pain points, unifying governance across data workflows while maintaining strict compliance and security standards.

When a data consumer—whether an application, analytics engine or database—requests data, the unified Data Access Service (DAS) within watsonx.data ensures every request passes through CPG. Here’s how it works:

• Authorization: The CPG consults the organization’s preferred policy engine to retrieve relevant access privileges.
• Enforcement: DAS applies these policies to either approve or deny the request.
• Secure access: If approved, DAS retrieves the data while upholding all governance policies.

This streamlined, policy-driven workflow ensures secure, consistent data access while empowering organizations to choose governance tools best suited to their needs.

The enhanced CPG empowers DataOps teams and stakeholders by delivering:

• Flexible governance choices: Integrate governance solutions that align with your organization’s strategy, including third-party tools like Apache Ranger, reducing vendor lock-in.
• Seamless third-party integration: Future-proof your governance framework by supporting a growing lineup of policy engines, enabling quick and efficient integration.
• Consistent policy enforcement: Apply uniform governance policies across diverse environments to eliminate fragmentation and ensure compliance.
• Streamlined data access: Data consumers gain timely, governed access to datasets, improving productivity while adhering to governance standards.
• Efficient DataOps workflows: Unified governance reduces the complexity of managing permissions across environments, accelerating time-to-insight.

watsonx.data's unified governance capability drives tangible outcomes across modern DataOps scenarios:

• Unified governance implementation: Data engineers can define and manage consistent governance policies, leveraging third-party tools without sacrificing flexibility or security.
• Access control management: Organizations can enforce access controls via existing third-party policy engines, securing data interactions across watsonx.data environments.
• Regulatory compliance: Analysts benefit from seamless, policy-enforced access to data, ensuring adherence to compliance requirements and minimizing audit overhead.

Legacy governance systems often lead to inefficiencies, requiring teams to juggle isolated engines and manually bridge governance gaps. watsonx.data’s common policy gateway eliminates these hurdles by offering a governance solution that is:

• Extensible: Easily integrates with preferred third-party governance systems, avoiding the need for custom development.
• Cost-efficient: Reduces operational overhead by standardizing governance workflows.
• Rapidly deployable: Accelerates the rollout of governance policies across hybrid data landscapes.

For example, an organization leveraging Apache Ranger for data governance can now extend its policies seamlessly into watsonx.data’s ecosystem, unifying governance without reengineering existing systems.

In a data-driven world, agility and compliance must go hand-in-hand. Organizations need governance frameworks that are flexible, interoperable, and scalable to meet the demands of modern DataOps. watsonx.data provides exactly this, empowering businesses to optimize data workflows while maintaining stringent security and compliance standards.

IBM watsonx.data's unified governance for modern DataOps is now available, offering enterprises the tools to streamline governance and unlock their data’s full potential. With seamless integration of third-party policy engines like Apache Ranger, this capability ensures that governance strategies remain adaptable, efficient, and future-proof.

Take the first step towards modern DataOps with unified governance and learn more about watsonx.data and its enhanced CPG.

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Discover how IBM watsonx.data’s Common Policy Gateway can transform your data governance strategy. Visit the IBM watsonx.data product page for more details.