Leveraging a cloud data warehouse to accelerate your business

Businesses are collecting data at an unprecedented rate. The problem is, most of this data is sitting in different places and it’s difficult to get a clear picture of what’s going on. This creates all sorts of problems, like data silos, inconsistency, and difficulty making decisions based on data.

A cloud data warehouse can help solve these problems by giving you a single source of truth for all your business data. These warehouses can be easily created within industry-leading business intelligence (BI) tools. In this article, we will discuss what a cloud data warehouse is and how it can help your business accelerate its growth!

What is a data warehouse?

A data warehouse is a repository for data that is collected from various sources within an organization. It’s essentially a central location where all your important business data can be stored. This data can then be used to generate reports and make decisions based on insights gleaned from the data.

Using data connectors, BI tools can connect to a variety of data sources and business systems, including cloud data warehouses. This data can then be transformed and presented through the use of dashboards and visualizations.

Why use a cloud data warehouse?

There are several reasons why you might want to use a cloud data warehouse:

Centralize your data

A cloud data warehouse can help you centralize all your company’s data into one place. This makes it easier to access and analyze the data, which leads to better decision-making.

When data remains in silos, it can be extremely difficult to extract any actionable insights from it. A cloud data warehouse provides a central repository that can be accessed by anyone within the organization. With proper data governance standards, you can ensure that every employee has instant access to the data they need to perform their job responsibilities.

Improved performance

Because a cloud data warehouse resides in the cloud, it is infinitely scalable and easily accessible to all. The rise of cloud computing has brought numerous benefits to the data warehouse. One of the greatest benefits is that a data warehouse can be a managed service, meaning that all the back-end infrastructure and data processing can be handled by the vendor. This differs greatly from traditional on-premise solutions, where internal IT teams would have to fully manage the warehouse.

How can you determine if a cloud data warehouse is right for your business?

Cloud data warehouses can be helpful for companies of all sizes. No matter the industry you are in, the data your company produces is extremely valuable. When debating whether to get a cloud data warehouse, here are some key considerations:

What data can my business users benefit from?

Understanding your business data and where it resides is an important step in determining the need for a cloud data warehouse. In today’s world, businesses of all sizes are producing more data than ever before. It’s important to ask yourself which data sources are most important to your business, and how easy it will be to extract that data.

Who can run the data warehouse in my organization?

Identifying a product owner for your cloud data warehouse is another important consideration. Data will continue to become a more powerful tool, especially if you are a small business growing fast. While it’s not necessary to have a data expert, it is good to identify a champion who is excited and can lead the implementation of the cloud data warehouse.

What are some quick wins the data warehouse can provide?

It’s important to understand that the implementation of a cloud data warehouse can take time and effort on behalf of the business. As you adopt a BI tool, you can start by identifying certain data sources or departments that could really benefit from having access to business data. Quick wins are a great way to spark interest and excitement. When users begin to see how powerful the data warehouse can be, they will be more eager to help in its implementation.

Tips for choosing the right cloud data warehouse provider for your business

Cloud data warehouses come in all shapes and sizes. If you already have a cloud data warehouse, the process for integrating with your BI tool is extremely intuitive. However, if you don’t yet have your data consolidated in a single environment, a BI tool that includes data warehousing capabilities will save you an extra integration step.

It’s also important to partner with a vendor that understands your unique business needs and has experience in your industry. BI vendors offer implementation services to help companies in the initial stages of creating the cloud data warehouse. By relying on their expertise and training, you can ensure a successful implementation of a cloud data warehouse.

Conclusion

In order to get value from your data you need information that is both accurate and accessible. Searching from system to system for the answer to a business question is both inefficient and unlikely to produce a desirable result. If you are experiencing any of these common issues, consider deploying a BI tool that allows you to create your cloud data warehouse where your data can be stored and organized. Doing so will save you time and money while helping your business focus less on reporting and more on achieving growth objectives.