Built on Data: The Next Shift in Software Platforms

Not long ago, building a new business application meant a lot of heavy lifting. Companies would spin up cloud infrastructure (servers, databases, and networking on AWS, GCP, etc.), then hand-craft a backend, a frontend, and a database, all glued together with DevOps. Just like everything else → this approach was not meant to stand the test of time. Today, we’re seeing a shift: instead of assembling software on generic cloud building blocks, businesses are starting to build directly on modern data platforms, in what will be the biggest paradigm shift since we started building software. The result? Faster development, control over your data, better integrations, powerful data analytics and the ability to action your data in real time.

What can Modern Data Platforms Offer

Modern data platforms bundle together capabilities that in the software engineering world would required a build or buy decision. Lets talk specifically about 5X, but other data platforms like Databricks, Fabrics, Snowflake are moving in a similar direction plus or minus some capabilities. Here are some capabilities specifically relevant to building software:

• Universal Data Ingestion: Connect to practically any data source, from databases to SaaS apps, in a few clicks. For instance, 5X includes 600+ pre-built connectors for ingesting in data from various sources . This means your CRM, ERP, marketing tools, and legacy systems can all feed into one place in near real-time. No custom scripts or separate ETL services needed.

• Modeling & Orchestration: Once data is in, the platform can clean, join, and transform it automatically. Modern platforms provide an orchestration layer to schedule pipelines and handle dependencies, along with data quality checks. You can define business logic in SQL or Python and have the platform handle the heavy lifting (with features like version control, reuse of code, and even visual lineage of how data flows).

• Semantic Layer – A Common Business Language: A semantic layer is essentially a business-friendly data model that standardizes metrics and definitions across the company. It lets you define things like “revenue” or “customer churn” one time in a semantic layer, so everyone from sales to finance is working off the same definitions. This creates a single source of truth. A well-defined semantic layer makes your data AI-ready; it’s much easier to plug in an AI tool when the key concepts are clearly defined and not buried in code.

• Embedded Business Intelligence: Traditional software projects often required separate reporting modules. Some data platforms like 5X have this built in. They enable teams to create dashboards, visualizations, and reports right on top of the unified data – and crucially, to embed those dashboards directly into the product with the correct customer based access control. This means analytics are not stuck in a silo; they become components you can reuse wherever needed. It’s self-service analytics meets Lego-style integration.

• Data Apps: Here’s where the paradigm really shifts – modern data platforms don’t stop at analytics; they let you build applications directly on top of your data. Until now these were limited to internal tools, customer-facing dashboards, or even AI-powered applications that are powered by your data platform. These are now maturing so you can deploy complete customer facing applications today. 5X includes the ability to deploy complete Docker apps through a governed application framework, all within the secure environment of the data platform . For example, you might quickly create a complete tax solution inside 5X. The platform handles the scaling, security, and governance, so you don’t need to set up separate servers for the app. In essence, the data platform becomes your backend. It’s full-stack development simplified: you already have the data and analytics in one place, and now you have a way to deliver it as an interactive application to users without reinventing the wheel.

All these capabilities under one roof fundamentally change the speed and ease of building software. A small team with a modern data platform can deliver in days what used to take months. And because everything is integrated, maintenance is simple. The result is not just faster time to market, but better, more data-rich functionality in the software you build.