Cloud data warehousing gives you and your leadership team the ability to make informed decisions quickly and easily, as all your data is stored neatly in one place. No need to dig through piles and piles of data to gain one insight — everything you need will be right at your fingertips, accessible from any internet-enabled device.
Table of Contents
- What Is Cloud Data Warehousing and Why Is It Important?
- What Are the Benefits of Cloud Data Warehousing?
- How Does Cloud Data Warehousing Help in Business?
- Best Practices in Business Intelligence and Cloud Data Warehousing
What Is Cloud Data Warehousing and Why Is It Important?
Cloud data warehousing is the process of storing a company's operational data from multiple different sources into a single data archive that can be accessed via the internet. The main point of data warehousing is to store historical information so businesses can have a clear picture of how certain pieces of data have changed over time. Data warehouses are able to sort data by subject matter based on the business's needs, like customers, products or other business activities.
Data warehousing in the cloud is important because it:
- Allows for consistency: Using a data warehouse will create a unified format for all your data. This uniformity is important for those analyzing that data, so they can quickly pull insights to share with others who need to be involved in making decisions. When the data is uniform, there is a lower risk of inconsistency or error in reading the information.
- Improves decision-making: Data insights are imperative for good decision-making within a company. The facts must drive the decisions so they create measurable results for a business. The more accurate and detailed the insights are, the more the decisions will set a business apart from its competitors. Since data is centralized and easily updated, the cloud allows decision-makers to access the most recent and up-to-date information.
- Boosts the bottom line: Since data warehouses store a lot of historical data about a company, going back through the archives allows leaders to see what worked for their business in the past and what didn't. This accessibility lets them create initiatives that are helpful in advancing the business and not simply repeating mistakes of the past. Streamlined data access via the cloud also reduces the amount of time it takes to find information, further benefiting the bottom line.
What Are the Benefits of Cloud Data Warehousing?
There are many benefits of cloud data warehousing that are the foundation for a successful business.
1. Delivers Enhanced Business Intelligence
Having easy access to data from various sources allows leaders in a business to make informed decisions rather than decisions based on limited information or their instinct. The data can be used for specific aspects of change implementation like marketing segmentation, financial management, sales or inventory management. The cloud is also vital for feeding data into various business intelligence tools, like analytics platforms and data visualization systems. The cloud makes it easy to integrate new data sources as your business evolves.
2. Saves Time
Using a cloud data warehouse saves your company a lot of time through easy access and smooth integration with other business tools. Because all the data is in one location, even smaller decisions can be driven by data because it does not take long to find the information. Having a data warehouse also eliminates the middleman in an IT consultant, allowing those needing the information to find it themselves rather than asking for help.
You'll also find speed improvements through a better ability to handle processing demands. Cloud data warehouses are usually made up of multiple, highly capable servers that can handle intense data movement. Many cloud service providers have servers in various regions, too, so you can quickly access data from the server that makes the most geographic sense.
3. Enhances Data Quality and Security
With all of a company's data being stored in one type of format, quality is consistent and up to date across the board. This also makes transferring the data to various platforms and devices much easier than it would be if the information was stored in diverse formats.
Cloud data also tends to be more secure than on-premise data. Cloud servers are managed by data professionals who are dedicated to protecting your information. The servers are stored off-site and backed up regularly to ensure data recovery in the event of a natural disaster.
4. Reduces Costs
On-premise solutions require significant capital investments in hardware and IT expertise, as well as the physical space to house the servers. The cloud eliminates those concerns, proving more cost-effective for many businesses, especially smaller ones.
5. Offers Scalability
When a company needs to increase storage for on-premise solutions, it needs to make more hardware and IT investments and wait for the new servers to be deployed. With the cloud, it's usually as simple as contacting your provider and purchasing more storage. The scalability of the cloud allows it to grow with your business and adapt to evolving demands, like a spike in seasonal demand or a business expansion.
How Does Cloud Data Warehousing Help in Business?
A cloud data warehouse is an essential part of modern business operations and keeping up with the competition. It powers necessary business intelligence and allows organizations to run in a highly connected environment, all backed by the most up-to-date and reliable information. Without a cloud data warehouse, you may find yourself falling behind competitors and feeling the effects of inefficiency on your bottom line.
Best Practices in Business Intelligence and Cloud Data Warehousing
Choosing to have a data warehouse in the cloud is a worthwhile investment, and it is important to get it right. Here are things to keep in mind:
- Know why you need a data warehouse: Are you looking to reduce spending, improve flexibility or enhance your company's decision-making processes? Understanding why you need a cloud data warehouse can help you implement this business intelligence solution and use it in a practical way.
- Be patient: Know when you begin that implementing and reaping the benefits of a cloud data warehouse does not happen overnight. It requires a lot of patience and organizational skills over a long period of time. Being flexible through the process will leave you with the most up-to-date data and comprehensive data warehouse possible at the end of the process.
- Analyze the data: When compiling data into your data warehouse, it is important that each piece of data is clean, accurate and consistent. This will save time in the long run and allow decisions made down the road to be as well-informed as possible.
- Analyze data load frequency: Some companies can function with batch processing, which means all the data they need is stored at one time, reducing the time needed for data processing and cost. Other companies need real-time data input and output. Businesses need to understand which is best for them so they can budget appropriately.
- Define a change data capture policy: This policy allows you to quickly see changes in a database when they are stored in a change table. This especially helps businesses analyze historical data and see changes made in their past.
Contact Technology Partners About Our Data Warehousing Solutions
Technology Partners offers data warehousing to ensure your data is optimized and organized. We want to make such a big task as easy as possible so you can see all your data, get rapid analytics and insights and make factual decisions. With our cloud migration services, we'll help create a smooth transition for your enterprise, identifying the cloud-based tools that will help your organization grow.
Contact us today to learn more about how our data warehousing and business intelligence services can serve you.
