From Data Silos to Real-Time Insights: Bringing Seamless Data Access to Italy and Spain

Organizations today don’t struggle with a lack of data—they struggle with access.

Across industries, critical data lives everywhere: legacy systems, cloud platforms, SaaS applications, and increasingly, hybrid architectures. But when that data can’t be accessed quickly and reliably, initiatives like analytics, automation and AI stall before they even begin.

That’s why Progress DataDirect is partnering with Softpi to expand access to high-performance data connectivity across Italy and Spain.

But this partnership isn’t just about distribution—it’s about solving a very real problem organizations face every day.

The Challenge: Data Everywhere, But Hard to Use

Modern organizations often rely on a mix of:

• Mission-critical systems like IBM Db2 on z/OS
• Cloud data platforms and analytics tools
• Multiple applications that need to share and consume data

Without a consistent way to connect everything, teams end up:

• Building and maintaining fragile, custom integrations
• Dealing with inconsistent performance
• Delaying analytics and decision-making

As your own DataDirect positioning reinforces, when connectivity depends on custom code or native drivers, it introduces complexity, risk and performance bottlenecks.

A Real-World Example: Enabling Digital Transformation in Public Administration

Earlier this year, this challenge came to life in a real customer deployment. A regional public sector organization in Italy, focused on driving the digital transformation of services for citizens and businesses, needed to modernize how its applications accessed data.

The organization’s environment was complex and mission-critical. It relied on IBM Db2 z/OS for core data, while newer, modern applications required ODBC-based access. At the same time, there was a clear need for secure, high-performance, real-time data connectivity to support evolving digital service demands.

Rather than building custom integrations or relying on traditional approaches, the organization implemented the Progress DataDirect Db2 z/OS ODBC driver. This allowed them to establish a standardized and efficient path to connect modern applications with their existing data infrastructure.

The results were immediate and impactful. They achieved faster, more reliable access to mission-critical data, while simplifying their architecture by removing the need for additional client-side layers. This, in turn, improved their ability to deliver digital services and enabled more effective, data-driven decision-making.

This scenario reflects exactly what DataDirect was designed to solve—providing a standardized, high-performance connectivity layer that eliminates integration complexity and enables real-time access to data.

Why the Partnership Matters

This success story highlights a broader opportunity—and underscores the importance of the partnership with Softpi. Softpi brings deep expertise in the local ICT and data integration market, along with strong relationships with customers across Italy and Spain. They also have extensive experience helping organizations modernize their data architectures, making them a valuable partner in driving transformation initiatives.

Together, Progress and Softpi are well positioned to help organizations simplify and accelerate their data strategies. With DataDirect, connectivity extends far beyond Db2 z/OS to a wide range of data sources—including relational systems such as Db2, Oracle and SQL Server; big data platforms such as MongoDB and Hive; cloud applications like Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics; and even other applications via REST APIs.

By enabling a “connect once, access anywhere” approach, they support seamless data access across hybrid and cloud environments. This allows customers to replace complex, custom integrations with standards-based connectivity while accelerating analytics, automation and AI initiatives. At the same time, it helps reduce operational overhead and development complexity.

As outlined in DataDirect materials, this approach fundamentally shifts how teams spend their time. Instead of maintaining and troubleshooting connectivity logic, organizations can focus on delivering applications, insights and business value.

What This Means for Customers

For organizations across Italy and Spain, this partnership translates into tangible outcomes:

• Faster Time to Insight: Access data in real time—without batch processes or integration delays.
• Simplified Integration: Eliminate the need for custom-built connectors and point-to-point integrations.
• Enterprise-Grade Performance: Rely on high-performance, production-ready drivers optimized for demanding workloads.
• Future-Ready Data Architecture: Easily adapt as new data sources, platforms and applications are introduced.

A Foundation for AI and Data-Driven Innovation

Data connectivity is no longer just a backend concern—it’s a strategic enabler.

Whether organizations are:

• Building AI-powered applications
• Expanding analytics capabilities
• Modernizing legacy environments

Success depends on having consistent, reliable access to the right data—wherever it lives.

That’s what Progress DataDirect delivers—and what this partnership with Softpi helps bring to more organizations across Europe.

Looking Ahead

The early success with customers shows what’s possible when high-performance connectivity meets local expertise.

Now, with Softpi as a strategic partner, Progress is expanding that impact—helping more organizations simplify data access, unlock insights faster and accelerate their digital transformation journeys.

Read the press release to learn more.