Belkin Charges Up Innovation with Lightning Fast Data Delivery

It’s no secret that data is driving a new era of innovation today, and digital business models are creating a winner-takes-all market. Top CIOs from around the world came together for a 3-day event at the CIO 100 Symposium to get a glimpse into the enterprise of the future and the role of data when it comes to creating more efficiency within their businesses while creating new digital experiences for customers.

Lance Ralls, chief information officer at Belkin International, took the stage to talk about the organization’s data-first approach to security and software development and how Belkin is supercharging innovation with lightning-fast data delivery.

Plugging Into a Stronger Data Foundation

Following its acquisition by Foxconn, Belkin needed a safe and secure way to share copies of sensitive information with its parent company in Taiwan—without putting the organization at risk of violating governance and compliance regulations.

“We were running reports with sensitive data, and frankly, we weren’t managing them very well,” Ralls said. “It helps to find your blind spots, and we adopted a DataOps platform that helped us identify where our sensitive data is for reporting, and getting that data copied over and making it available for developers and testers for software development and testing.”

Belkin looked to adopt DataOps, a collaborative data management practice that focuses on orchestrating and automating data delivery in a fast and secure manner by bringing together those that need data to those that provide it. This approach coupled two integral capabilities together: data virtualization and data masking.

“Prior to adopting a DataOps platform, we were only refreshing data once a year,” said Ralls. “Now, we refresh daily, and mask that data to reduce our liability concern from a privacy standpoint. There’s much less concern from the CFO, CEO, and myself knowing our customers’ sensitive data is protected.”

Looking Forward to 5G Networks

More than 500 billion devices are expected to be connected to the internet by 2030, according to research from Cisco. 5G networks will be a huge opportunity for Belkin to get out in front of competitors when it comes to wireless gateways, routers and other products that provide connectivity for customers.

This ultra-fast cellular network technology rivals home fiber connections, and with faster speeds and lower latency, it delivers data transmission essentially in real-time. According to Ralls, every CIO should already be thinking about 5G and the explosion of data poised to come with it. The technology and what it can enable will be a game-changer for those who can figure how to wield its power to bring about the world’s next generation of innovative digital products and services.

“You go to Amazon.com and you will see hundreds of cable solutions and wireless charging and everything else, so how do we differentiate ourselves and challenge that?” asked Ralls. “Having a complete solution as we move to 5G and putting data at the forefront of the decisions we make around building innovative products. We have to think data-first, or we’re out of business.”