A leading global accounting firm possessed petabytes of high-value unstructured data, but it was essentially 'dark data'—unlabeled, unsearchable, and locked behind manual approval emails. We engineered a full-scale Data Marketplace from ground zero, turning raw storage into a self-service platform where users can discover, request, and 'purchase' data assets like an e-commerce experience.
Inaccessibility of unstructured assets and governance friction.
The firm faced two critical bottlenecks: 'Discoverability' (analysts couldn't find relevant datasets within the chaotic unstructured storage) and 'Access' (getting permission to use data took weeks of manual email chains). There was no standardized taxonomy, meaning valuable intellectual property was effectively lost in the digital noise.
Technology operationalization
We built a scalable Data Lake for unstructured storage, overlaid with an AI-driven Cognitive Search engine. A custom 'Purchasing' workflow was developed to handle the full lifecycle: Data Request > Manager Approval > Automated Provisioning > Secure Delivery.
Addressing global business imperatives
- Unstructured Data Lake Architecture
- AI-Driven Labeling & Auto-Tagging
- Smart Cognitive Search (Semantic Discovery)
- Automated Data 'Purchasing' Workflows
- End-to-End Governance & Audit Trails
Democratizing data via a 'Digital Brochure' model
We treated data as a product. We implemented a robust ingestion pipeline that automatically labeled and tagged incoming files, feeding them into a Smart Cognitive Search index. This allowed users to search for data conceptually (not just by filename). We then built the 'Transaction Layer': a rigorous internal process where users view a 'Digital Brochure' of the data, click 'Purchase' (Request), and trigger an automated approval chain that delivers the data immediately upon sign-off.
Addressing global business imperatives
The solution reduced data retrieval time from weeks to minutes. It established a 'Single Source of Truth' where data is not just stored, but actively managed, tagged, and distributed securely through a compliant, auditable pipeline.
Data Lake Architecture
Designing and deploying a scalable unstructured data store to serve as the raw repository for global assets.
Auto-Labeling Pipeline
Implementing processes to ingest raw files and apply automated metadata tagging and classification.
Smart Cognitive Search
Deploying AI-powered search capabilities to index the enriched data, allowing for semantic and context-aware discovery.
The 'Purchasing' Workflow
Engineering the logic for Internal Requests, Approvals, and Compliance checks, mimicking an e-commerce checkout flow.
Secure Provisioning
Automating the final mile: once approved, the system securely grants access and delivers the dataset to the user.