Moving to Cloud-Based Data Warehouses: Here’s Why There is Urgency

• By Mariyah Saifuddin
  

Our latest series of podcasts with Matt Florian of Comerit focuses on cloud-based data warehouses. This is the first of three blogs about the series. 

Data volumes keep growing, so how can enterprises better manage their data? Our latest series of podcasts with Matt Florian highlight the urgency of moving to cloud-based data warehouses.

Why the urgency?

Organizations have spent a fair amount of time fixing and getting processes in place with software like SAP and other ERP packages. In the meantime, other areas of the business have been working on getting their processes in place. This means that organizations can have multiple platforms operating independently. The question then becomes how can the data be blended? Although SAP is a powerful tool, the full value to an organization comes when they can successfully figure out how to look at all of their data collectively.

Benefits of Moving to a Cloud

Cost: As less than 5 years ago, organizations needed to invest in capacity upfront. Now, there is a shift to a utility model where you are charged just for what you’re actually using

Scalability: Newer serverless technology means you are computing as needed on demand. This is not possible with on-premise or even some traditional AWS infrastructures

Flexibility: Companies can solve big problems with data with these cloud applications that helps companies faced with growing data volumes.

Changing Landscape

ERP packages such as SAP traditionally require clients to think about the infrastructure that gets to be designed and built out. Preplanning is required. 

When you step out of that plan, it requires further preplanning. 

Businesses often limit themselves to what data they will have in there, not because of the limitation of the system, but due to the limitations of the infrastructure.

 Different options, like a Snowflake Data Platform, allow for businesses to make changes inside Snowflake. This means businesses can scale their infrastructure and then compute resources up and out dynamically.

Picking a Viable Cloud-based Data Warehouse

• Start with the end in mind. What’s your goal for the analytics? What types of measures and outcomes does the business want to achieve?
• Start with building a good quality data pipeline. 
• Don’t be resistant to change. With newer tools like Snowflake, companies are gaining control of their data and computing power. 

As Florian shared: “ The simplest set of solutions to solve your biggest problems is achievable and it can be done. Don’t wait to get started.”