In today’s digitally-driven world, data has proven to be more a valuable resource than ever before, coming a long way from being mere entries on documents and spreadsheets. With this resource, hundreds of thousands of businesses all over America—both big and small—have been able to make better decisions, retain more profit, and grow far beyond their expectations.
All industries today, regardless of how technologically immersed they may be, interact with data in one way or another because of the limitless possibilities that can be achieved. However, much trouble has also come abreast in recent years because of threats such as data loss and cybercrimes that have challenged businesses and how they handle their valuable resources.
With your business fully committing to going digital, chances are you’ve grown heavily dependent on data to fuel your processes and take your growth efforts to the next level. You know you must protect such a resource at all costs, so it’s best to upgrade your data storage and management solutions.
And fortunately, this is where cloud data warehouses (such as those offered by TnZ International) come in handy. But, given the sheer number of options available on the market nowadays, it can be quite difficult to settle on one particular solution above all else.
This brings us to our topic of the day: choosing the right data warehouse.
What’s A Cloud Data Warehouse?
If this is your first time hearing about data warehouses (or data warehousing, in general), there’s no need to worry because it’s a straightforward concept.
Simply put, data warehouses act as “homes” for any business’s data—a storage space of sorts that can be used to contain millions of entries from various sources at any given time. Companies use these technological solutions to aggregate data, so analyzing everything becomes much more manageable.
Compared to on-premise data warehouses that are rather costly and difficult to manage, their cloud counterparts live entirely online; thus, making them a lot easier to access, handle, and maintain. Over the years, industries have become more aware of the need for these solutions simply because:
- They offer absolute flexibility on how a company stores and queries its data;
- They don’t require physical hardware that can be compromised in the event of natural disasters, crimes, or other potential data-wiping predicaments;
- They are much easier to implement and scale;
- They’re far more cost-effective than on-premise data warehouses;
- They make it easier to consolidate information from web, mobile, CRM, and other types of applications, and;
- They allow anyone to easily answer tough analytical questions by grouping all sets of data for reference.
Factors to Consider When Choosing a Data Warehouse
When choosing the right data warehouse for your business’s needs, several factors must be considered before making a final decision. To help you ensure that you get the exact option that will give you no fuss and improve your relationship with data and the way you manage it, here are the factors you should consider:
- Data Types: Before you think about paying for a data warehouse, you must first think about the kind of data your business works with. Depending on whether you have structured (ex. spreadsheets) or unstructured data (ex. Emails, books, social media posts), you have to choose between a relational or non-relational database.
- Scale: Data warehouses differ depending on how much information a client or business needs to store as higher amounts require more support—leading to greater costs in the process. By being more familiar with the amount of data you will deal with in the next two, five, and even ten years, you’ll be able to choose an option that best suits your needs.
- Cost: Compared to other deciding factors, the cost is often seen as the most volatile factor to consider because it varies according to an inquiring company’s specific use case. Again, consider your business’s needs and make sure you don’t cut corners!
Conclusion
If you want to protect your data and use it effectively and profitably, then you’ll need to invest in a data warehouse. With this guide, you’ll be able to find the right option that suits your needs with minimal-to-no compromise.
TnZ offers top-level data center server and data analytics services for businesses all across the United States. Get in touch with us today to learn more about our available solutions!