A data warehouse is a repository of data that typically collects data from a wide range of sources. It structures data in a way that makes it effortless to analyze and generate insights. However, the question is whether your organization requires enterprise data warehouse solutions. The answer will depend on a variety of factors, the following of which are the most significant.
1. Disparate data
You must ask yourself how disparate your data is. Collecting and organizing data from various sources can prove to be a tedious task for businesses. You may need to make sense of the data sourced from different databases, as well as spreadsheets. All of these may require structuring in a different way. Gathering all of these data manually is extremely laborious, even for small organizations. Because of this, enterprise data warehouse solutions can make this process automated, drawing out only the most critical data from these sources.
2. Volatile data
It would be best if you also asked how volatile your data is. Volatile data is defined as data that isn’t consistently structured. Because of this, it isn’t easy to gain insight from them. Data pulled from various sources will eventually result in data being structured differently. For example, data from Excel spreadsheets is vastly different from data in business databases.
It can result in separate systems interpreting the same information in different ways. To make sense of all these, you need to convert this disparate data into something more standard while keeping it accurate and relevant.
3. Self-service reporting
Self-service reporting provides a sort of insight that can give an organization optimum agility, especially when people create reports that require a deep understanding of the data as well as the business. The key is to provide access to appropriate data so that users can swiftly and effortlessly create reports that answer critical questions. It allows people to run the business to make critical business decisions. If you feel that your business will benefit from creating customized reports, a well-designed data warehouse will aid in helping your team come up with them.
4. Inefficient data strategy
You must also ask yourself if your current data tactics are resulting in inefficiency. Suppose you haven’t given much thought to your data needs previously and have just begun the process of deciding whether a data warehouse is a worthy investment. In that case, you may feel that you don’t have a data strategy currently. However, this is not the case.
Your data strategy includes almost any interaction you have with data. If the data is not structured optimally and is still manually pulled from various disparate sources, there is a big chance that your current situation isn’t efficient. If you have rows of data, you will require insights from it for your business to be more functional and grow optimally. Investing in a data warehouse will make the entire process more efficient. Data warehousing capabilities such as data transformation as well as cleansing and aggregation are all designed to result in optimum performance.
5. Data mining
you must also ask if your business requires data mining. The previously mentioned points target the businesses’ ability to inspect data and generate reports. But a data warehouse that is optimally designed will also allow your business to data-mine. Data mine is a process of determining hidden patterns within data and obtaining an insight. One benefit is picking up on market trends before the competition. It is also helpful in identifying products that can be grouped together to maximize revenue.
Enterprise data warehouses have been around for years. It is critical to adopt this technology in your business. This technology is non-negotiable, especially when you are thinking of expanding your business and gaining an edge over the competition.
