When efficiency is at stake, enterprises need a data warehouse

29 March 2022

Workers at Smartmatic check data on a computer while configuring compact flash cards for election automated machines. (Photo by TED ALJIBE / AFP)

  • A data warehouse is vital to a company’s ability to make sound business decisions
  • According to Global Market Insights, the Data Warehousing Market size is estimated to grow at over 12% CAGR between 2019 and 2025
  • The investment in a data warehouse can be considerable, but the costs can be reduced by using modern technology

Many companies dive into automation, artificial intelligence, advanced analytics, or other buzz-worthy digital transformation projects in their rush to find the next big thing. While these can be valuable endeavors, they often don’t deliver on expectations.

In today’s fast-paced world, businesses need to be able to turn data into insights to make informed decisions quickly.

Organizations of all sizes are under pressure to adopt newer, more agile data architectures to keep up with the ever-changing business landscape. This is especially true for data warehousing, where modernization can bring new capabilities and advantages.

Data warehouse defined

A data warehouse is simply a system designed to support data analysis and reporting. It does this by pulling data from multiple sources — including data marts, operational systems, and external sources such as the internet — and consolidating it into a single repository known as the data warehouse.

This process makes the data readily available for reporting and analysis so that users can answer critical business questions.

The data within one can come from various systems within the company, and are vital to a company’s ability to make sound business decisions. Data can come from the company’s operational systems, including enterprise resource planning (ERP), PI systems, historical, financial systems, or external sources.

Storage to keep up with the competition

A recent study by IDC found that spending on big data and business analytics solutions will reach US$189.1 Billion with double-digit annual growth through 2022.

Organizations have to manage an increasing amount of data, spurring the growth of such repositories. There’s no question that it is a considerable investment for any business. According to Global Market Insights, the Data Warehousing Market size is estimated to grow at over 12% CAGR between 2019 and 2025.

Although a data warehouse is an ultimate tool for companies to make better decisions about serving their customers and future-proof their operations, this is also where things can get tricky. Technology is complex and ever-evolving, so assembling and managing a data storage and analytics system requires a lot of skill and know-how.

Justifying the data warehouse investment

The investment can be considerable, but the costs can be reduced by using modern technology. By taking advantage of cloud-based solutions, businesses can access the power of big data analytics without investing in hardware or software.

In addition, self-service tools allow employees with little data science experience to query and analyze data independently. Businesses can get the most value from their data investment by using these modern technologies.

Costs less than traditional analytics systems

It has been estimated that a data warehouse can cost as little as one-tenth of a traditional analytics system. The benefits of using such a system include streamlined data integration, improved performance, scalability, and security.

It also helps organizations facilitate data-driven decision-making and find cost savings. In addition, it can help improve the accuracy of an organization’s business intelligence (BI) and analytics initiatives.

Many US data storage companies provide the solution comprising Indium Software, Snowflake, Microsoft Azure Synapse, Google BigQuery, Oracle Autonomous Warehouse, Yellowbrick Data, Amazon Redshift, IBM Db2 Warehouse, SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, and Teradata Integrated Data Warehouse.