June 21, 2024
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Are you tired of leaving money on the table?
Growing companies collect vast quantities of data every day. Customer databases, sales numbers, marketing KPIs, operational statistics… The list goes on. But here's the issue:
Much of it sits in disjointed silos.
Separated data means missed opportunities to discover insights that could fuel growth. Partnering with an experienced data warehouse consultant can help you pull all that valuable information into one centralised system. That's where data warehouse consulting services come into play.
Get ready to make faster decisions based on better insights.
Hold on…
Imagine your data is spread out over multiple apps and platforms. Suddenly team members are spending hours tracking down basic info. Reports disagree with each other. And executive stakeholders are making critical decisions… blind.
Sound expensive?
According to research by Gartner, bad data costs businesses an average of $12.9 million per year. Yikes!
Not only that… poor data centralisation between departments caused employees to lose up to 27% of their work time chasing down wrong or missing information.
Let that sink in…
Companies are losing over a quarter of each workday maintaining messy data. Time that could be spent gaining new customers, delighting existing clients, or innovating product offerings.
How centralised data helps…
When business data is stored in one central location, everyone has access to the same information. Data driven-decisions are faster because there are no delays discussing which figures are correct. Every department pulls from the same database.
Companies with high-quality data systems see their employees spend 90% more time on productive work instead of data maintenance.
Here's what happens when you bring your data together under one roof:
Businesses investing in data warehousing gained incredible ROI. A study by Nucleus Research showed a whopping $3.44 return on every dollar spent on data warehousing. The average business saw a ROI in just 7.2 months.
Not too shabby for an investment.
And it's not just about getting everyone on the same page. Data centralisation also helps businesses save on infrastructure expenses.
That same Nucleus Research study found that businesses saw a 25 to 45 percent decrease in infrastructure costs after implementing a cloud-managed data warehouse solution.
Increased team productivity is another excellent side effect of data centralisation. Data engineers experienced a 41% decrease in workload. Data analysts saw a 21% increase in productivity.
More bang for your buck = higher ROI.
Plain and simple.
If you can spend less money on overhead costs and get your employees to do more in less time, your business will see better profits.
You know what else helps businesses see better profits?
Excellent data-driven decisions.
And that's what centralising your data does best. It allows teams to react quickly to changing circumstances. Because they have access to the same information. Leaders can identify opportunities sooner and address issues before they become bigger problems.
Wondering how to bring your data together? Let's take a look at three benefits of data warehousing.
Data warehouses take information from all business systems and condense it into one unit. Point of sale data, web analytics, ad spend totals, customer records, financial documents… you name it.
Imagine running a report for quarterly profits and everyone in the C-Suite giving you the same answer.
Having all your data stuck in Google Sheets doesn't do you any good.
When built correctly, a data warehouse organises that data into understandable patterns. Trends are easier to spot. Predictive modelling becomes possible.
Businesses can finally start answering questions like:
Alright, so your bakery sold a few dozen cupcakes last year. Now you're selling them by the millions.
Your data grows with your business. A lot.
Trying to store increasing amounts of data on legacy systems will slow you down. Cloud-based data warehouses can scale as needed. As your business grows, so can your data warehouse. No constant IT upsells required.
It's one of the many reasons why BMC predicts the market for cloud data warehousing will expand by nearly 15% each year through 2030.
The more places your data lives, the more opportunities for breaches.
Data security is much easier to maintain when all your information is in one place. Access controls can be simplified. Compliance mandates can be streamlined. Your IT department will thank you when audit season rolls around.
Thinking about centralising your data but not sure where to start?
Here are four steps to begin your data journey.
First things first, where is your data currently situated? What software contains customer data? Where are financial documents stored? Which tools keep track of daily operational stats?
Figuring this out lets you know exactly how fragmented your data is at the moment. It also helps you identify which connections will be most valuable.
What do you want decisions backed by data to accomplish? What questions do you want to be able to answer?
Be specific. If you want to lose weight, you don't go to the gym and "exercise a lot". You lift this weight, do x amount of cardio, eat these foods, and avoid those ones.
Objectives like "Decrease customer churn by 15%" or "Identify top-selling products" will shape your project from start to finish.
Every business has unique needs. Maybe you don't need an enterprise-level data warehouse. Perhaps a small custom data solution will do the trick.
There are cloud-based data warehouses and locally-hosted options. Each comes with benefits and drawbacks.
A data warehouse isn't something you build and forget.
Data cleaning and upkeep is a constant battle. Just as your business attracts new streams of data, your data warehouse will need to adapt to integrate it. Analytics will need to improve as your team gets more sophisticated in their reporting.
Take these things into account when planning your data warehouse, and you'll avoid painful headaches in the future.
Data doesn't have to be siloed any more.
We've established that scattered data costs money. Poor data quality costs businesses nearly $13 million every year. Data not being in one central location causes workers to waste 27% of their time.
But when harnessed correctly, data can offer businesses immense ROI.
$3.44 dollars for every $1 spent on building a data warehouse. Businesses see a return on their investment in just under 8 months. Data centralisation also helped companies lower infrastructure spending by up to 45%.
Let's review:
According to research mentioned in the article, poor quality data can cost a business an average of $12.9 million per year. Additionally, when data is not centralised, employees can lose up to 27% of their work time just trying to track down the correct information.
Investing in data warehousing offers a strong return. A study by Nucleus Research showed that businesses gained an average of $3.44 for every dollar spent. The same study found that companies saw a return on their investment in just 7.2 months and also reduced infrastructure costs by 25 to 45 percent.
A data warehouse provides three primary benefits. It creates a 'single source of truth' by consolidating information from all your systems. It improves your analytics capabilities, making it easier to spot trends and gain actionable insights. Finally, it scales with your business, so you won't be held back by legacy systems as you grow.
You can begin with a four-step approach. First, audit your current systems to understand where your data is located. Second, set clear, specific goals for what you want to achieve. Third, choose the right solution, whether it's a cloud-based warehouse or a custom build. Lastly, plan for the ongoing maintenance and cleaning your data will require.
Yes, it can significantly boost productivity. When everyone has access to the same, reliable information, decisions are made faster. Research shows that data engineers experienced a 41% decrease in workload and data analysts saw a 21% increase in productivity after implementing a centralised data solution.
