Mulling the idea of moving your BI technology to the cloud?
While such transitions do come with some challenges, those are far outweighed by the advantages — many of which are just not achievable when you keep your BI on premises. That’s likely why, in a 2017 poll profiled in Forbes, 78 percent of BI and analytics leaders from Fortune 2000 organizations worldwide planned to use the cloud for BI and data management between 2017 and 2018.
A partial listing of cloud-exclusive benefits:
1. Freedom from infrastructure: Cloud storage lets you ditch the servers and other machines that take up physical space at your company. Better yet, someone else must troubleshoot all that equipment, freeing you from the time, money and hassle invested in upkeep, repairs and prevention of security breaches.
2. Universal 24-7 access: Data stored in the cloud can be reached anywhere and anytime the internet is available, and that’s crucial now that so many people are conducting business by mobile. Regardless of computer malfunctions, infections or deterioration, your data remains safe and easy to find.
3. Nearly unlimited collaboration: The cloud allows for unprecedented teamwork as your employees and partners are enabled to view and share information in a straightforward, consistent and up-to-the-minute way, regardless of location.
4. Maximum scalability: With the cloud you pay only for the capacity you need — typically via a flat monthly or yearly fee — so you can easily increase or decrease usage as your business needs fluctuate.
5. Continual monitoring: Sure, most organizations are vigilant about data security. But in the cloud, the vendor’s primary job is to monitor the integrity of your information around the clock.
6. Provide access while building a structured EDW. As cloud-based storage systems offer an affordable way to store all of an organization’s data, many use data lakes as the primary storage repository. That provides the benefit of storing vast amounts of raw data in its native format, allowing business users, data scientists and other consumers real-time access to enterprise-wide data for analysis and reporting. The processing occurs in parallel with the integration development effort into the EDW. That democratizes your data, eliminates the need for analysts to wait, removes data silos and allows you to tap into streams of data not yet fully integrated into the production reporting systems.
7. Additional benefits: Studies point to cost savings of 10 percent or more when cloud service is compared to in-house infrastructure. You can also expect a faster time to market; the procurement of hardware can often delay a project by months, whereas cloud deployment is more immediate.
Advanced Business Horizons can make your move to the cloud efficient and seamless. Call us at 877-817-7892 to learn more.