Enterprise Data Marketplace

An enterprise data marketplace is an internal platform that allows teams across an organization to discover, share, and access curated data products. It functions like a digital storefront for data, where approved datasets are made available to users through a governed and searchable interface. Each data product typically includes documentation, quality indicators, access terms, and ownership details.
The goal of an enterprise data marketplace is to improve data discoverability and reusability, reduce silos, and promote self-service analytics. By centralizing data access and standardizing delivery, it empowers both technical and business users to find and use trustworthy data without needing to request it manually from data teams.
Why Organizations Use a Data Marketplace
In large enterprises, data is often scattered across systems, departments, and teams. Without a central way to find and evaluate available datasets, users waste time recreating data assets, duplicating work, or relying on outdated sources. An enterprise data marketplace addresses these issues by creating a single point of access for approved, ready-to-use data.
Key reasons organizations adopt enterprise data marketplaces include:
- Enabling data self-service without sacrificing governance.
- Improving efficiency by reducing duplicate requests and redundant datasets.
- Encouraging reuse of trusted, vetted data products.
- Standardizing data access policies across departments.
- Promoting a data culture by making high-quality data easier to find and use.
The marketplace model supports scalable, secure, and consistent data delivery across the enterprise.
Features of an Enterprise Data Marketplace
A robust enterprise data marketplace typically includes the following components:
- Search and discovery tools to help users find relevant data products.
- Metadata and documentation for each dataset, including definitions and lineage.
- Access controls and request workflows to ensure proper data governance.
- Usage metrics and feedback mechanisms to track demand and value.
- Integration with data catalogs and governance platforms for consistency.
- Data quality indicators to help users assess trustworthiness.
These features help organizations balance open access with control and compliance.
Data Marketplace vs. Data Catalog
While a data catalog provides an index of all available data assets, an enterprise data marketplace goes a step further by enabling active discovery, access, and consumption of curated data products.
- Data Catalog: A system of record that inventories all data assets.
- Enterprise Data Marketplace: A platform for distributing and managing usable, governed datasets as products.
The two often work together; catalogs document what’s available, while marketplaces focus on delivery and reuse.
Benefits of an Enterprise Data Marketplace
- Faster access to trusted data for analysts, developers, and business users.
- Reduced data duplication through centralized discovery.
- Clear accountability through ownership and governance links.
- Improved decision-making with consistent, documented data products.
- Increased data literacy by exposing definitions, usage, and lineage.
By treating data as a product and enabling internal exchange, a data marketplace helps organizations scale insight delivery and unlock value from their data assets.
Actian and Enterprise Data Marketplaces
Actian Data Intelligence Platform empowers organizations to create data marketplaces that make high-value data assets easily discoverable, accessible, and governed. By connecting users to curated data products through a unified platform, Actian enables self-service access while maintaining centralized governance and control.
With Actian, teams can:
- Publish reusable, trustworthy data products across the organization.
- Ensure consistent governance with built-in metadata, quality, and access controls.
- Eliminate silos by breaking down barriers between data producers and consumers.
- Reduce the time required to find, evaluate, and integrate data.
- Scale data sharing and consumption across business units.
The platform provides a seamless experience for both technical and business users, making it easy to discover and request data products while meeting compliance and operational requirements. Actian’s enterprise data marketplace capabilities help organizations unlock more value from their data by improving trust, transparency, and collaboration.
FAQ
The purpose is to make curated, trustworthy data products available across an organization through a searchable, governed interface that enables self-service and reduces duplication.
Data analysts, engineers, business users, and product teams use the marketplace to discover and access data products without relying on manual data requests or informal handoffs.
A data warehouse stores raw or processed data. A data marketplace offers a curated interface to discover, evaluate, and request governed datasets, often from multiple sources.
Governance is built in through access permissions, approval workflows, metadata visibility, and quality indicators that help ensure responsible data sharing.
Actian Data Intelligence Platform enables organizations to create enterprise data marketplaces that promote self-service access to governed, high-quality data products. The platform connects data consumers to trusted assets by providing a central location to discover, evaluate, and request data, all while enforcing governance and access controls. Actian eliminates silos between data producers and users, supports metadata-driven visibility, and simplifies collaboration across departments. Learn more at actian.com/data-intelligence/enterprise-data-marketplace.