Data is one of the most crucial assets of any modern organisation. But without the right tools in hand, the large volume of data can quickly be overwhelming and hard to understand. Is it time for your small business to implement a data warehouse?
The amount of data a company accumulates is continuously growing, and it shows no signs of stopping any time soon. It’s important to acknowledge that this data is just as crucial for SMEs as it is for bigger conglomerates, hence why we put together this little white paper on data warehousing.
Does your team spend too much time comparing notes and questioning numbers? Do you rely heavily on spreadsheets that take a lot of time and effort to produce in order to analyse performance?
If this sounds like something your organisation deals with on a regular basis, then investing in a good reporting architecture and data storage solution will be worth considering.
What is a data warehouse?
Essentially, we can say that a date warehouse is a warehouse for your company data.
The key purpose is to integrate and bring together information and data collected from various sources, like a CRM or an ERP, and then store it in a centralised location. The information stored includes both current and historical data, which can be used to create data reports, identify industry trends, and develop sales and marketing strategies.
The greatest benefit of a data warehouse is the ability to gather information from a wide variety of sources, such as sales, marketing, finance, customer service and more. And with the aid of AI, the solution can formulate in-depth comprehensive reports on-demand.
3 Signs Your Business Needs a Data Warehouse
Your employees are spending too much time generating reports.
A well-optimised data analysis and reporting strategy should be fast and easy. However, if it takes an unnecessary amount of time for your employees to generate the reports they need, it might be about time you look for a data warehousing vendor.
Simply put, a data warehouse works by consolidating information from various sources, thereby allowing employees to easily get the data they need from one single source. Additionally, most data warehouse solutions have automatic update features that update your stored information whenever it’s changed in one of the main sources. This means that users will always access accurate and up-to-date information.
Your employees find the data overwhelming.
Are your employees getting inundated with an influx of information from various sources?
Are your spreadsheets getting overwhelmed by data?
Regardless of the size of your business, it’s imperative that you have the right tools in place to make sense of your business data. If you find that the volume is simply too overwhelming, there’s no doubt about the fact that you need to implement a good warehousing solution instead.
Discrepancies in data and reports are becoming a regular occurrence.
Have you noticed a few discrepancies in the reports or findings generated by team leaders?
Do you find that some reports have a few conflicting points when compared to your own report?
Of course, mistakes and inconsistencies are unavoidable – especially when it comes to dealing with large volumes of information and data. But when you find that these errors are becoming more and more common, then it’s time to get some help consolidating and making sense of relevant business data.
Are You Ready for Change?
Investing in a good data warehousing solution is ideal for businesses, regardless of size or industry, that find managing large volumes of data tedious and overwhelming.
The key, however, is finding the right solution to invest in.
YouShortlist offer expert, non-chargeable IT buying advice to help you find the right solution for your needs. Our data experts can offer a shortlist of vendors, all of whom can offer an appropriate solution depending on your exact requirements.
Simply get in touch via the contact page, and we will get back to you with your next data warehousing options. What are you waiting for?