This IBM RedguideTM publication looks back on the key decisions that made the data lake successful and looks forward to the future. It proposes that the metadata management and governance approaches developed for the data lake can be adopted more broadly to increase the value that an organization gets from its data. Delivering this broader vision, however, requires a new generation of data catalogs and governance tools built on open standards that are adopted by a multi-vendor ecosystem of data platforms and tools. Work is already underway to define and deliver this capability, and there are multiple ways to engage. This guide covers the reasons why this new capability is critical for modern businesses and how you can get value from it.