How do you know if your company needs a data warehouse (DW)? The signs are clear. If you are beginning to feel like you are wasting energy and time due to manual processes as well as analyzing and managing data with a program such as Microsoft Excel, DWs can help immensely by eliminating errors and tedious manual work. This enterprise resource planning (ERP) system lets companies combine CRM tools, ERP, and Microsoft Office capabilities into the next generation of business applications.
The new generation of BI/CPM tools are built with a flexible database platform, also known as a cloud DW. A cloud DW can store all data to eliminate the need of a unique report writer for each data source. If you are unfamiliar with a DW. According to Dataversity, Bill Inmon was considered the Father of Data Warehousing. Inmon was the first to discuss the principles around the DW, and coined the term in the 1970’s. Companies view a modern DW as a dream come true because all of the organization’s important metrics are gathered in one place. A DW aggregates structured data from multiple sources, so that it can be analyzed for greater BI. Consolidating financials for organizations with several entities has never been easier for companies as it is stored in one place, and features and customization are available. DWs are created with the business user in mind, and the information housed within DWs can be utilized for planning, budgeting, forecasting, modeling, periodical reporting, as well as in dashboards where trends and trajectories of company data can be analyzed visually. Now that BI/CPM tools are moving to the cloud, DWs are able to consolidate all of your data sources no matter where they are located, whether that’s web-based, hosted in the cloud, or on-premises.
On-premise users, do not worry because, as cloud BI tools continue to get smarter, it is likely that hybrid models will appear in the marketplace, fusing cloud power with the control of on-premise technologies. Thankfully, although everything is slowly conforming to the cloud (but picking up speed), your business doesn’t have to do this overnight.