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3 reasons to centralize your data in the cloud (and how to do it)

In a time where data drives innovation and competitiveness, cloud-based data solutions are essential for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Establishing data solutions in the cloud used to be an expensive affair, but not anymore. Let’s explore why you should take advantage of cloud technology – and demonstrate its value with a concrete case.

Today, it is no longer a question of whether SMEs should use cloud-based data solutions, but rather how they can best leverage them. By working strategically with the power of data, SMEs can position themselves for success in a digital future. Setting up a data warehouse for analyzing and reporting structured and semi-structured data from multiple sources doesn’t have to be costly. And there are plenty of reasons to do it. The three main advantages of centralizing data are:

  • 1. Democratization of data within the company:

    Cloud solutions provide a unified overview of the business. No matter where you are, you can access up-to-date data on areas such as finance, sales, customer service, and operations. With data consolidated in one place, you ensure a common foundation for making informed decisions.

  • 2. Scalability and security:

    By using cloud solutions, the company gains the ability to scale up or down as needed, without massive investments in hardware. Additionally, all cloud providers adhere to high security standards that protect data and offer the ability to control access to it.

  • 3. Flexibility and innovation:

    SMEs can tailor their solutions to meet their specific needs. They can choose the services that best fit their business model. When data is centralized, companies can quickly implement new solutions and adapt to changing demands, such as using AI or Machine Learning to predict growth and identify opportunities.

Case: From manual Excel exports to accessible data in the cloud

In a medium-sized company, we encountered a case that represents challenges many businesses face. Every week, the finance department exports data from their CRM and ERP systems for reporting and forecasting the company’s financial performance. Since this data does not include historical information, aggregated data is exported weekly from the systems to Excel spreadsheets. It is a manual process performed by the finance department.

The historical aggregated data in Excel is used for reporting to management on the company’s performance, both retrospectively and going forward. Additionally, the company’s CFO, CEO, CCO, and sales department use the data as a source to generate their own reports.

The issues with the current solution are obvious:

  • Lack of automation:

    Data import is a manuel process. 

  • Difficult to scale:

    Excel is used as a data warehouse. 

  • Accessibility issues:

    Multiple departments rely on data, and access to files can be unnecessarily complicated and not secured in case of outages.

  • Security as an administrative burden:

    Backup, data replication, and access control become a significant task.

The company’s stakeholders agree that the current setup is inefficient. But what should replace it? With the three main benefits of centralizing data in mind, it’s clear that there is significant value to be gained from a cloud-based solution.

The biggest challenge in choosing a standard tool is keeping costs to a minimum – even for less data-intensive solutions. Historically, data warehouse solutions have been out of reach for smaller companies due to the expensive hardware required and the high management costs. With cloud-based solutions, you only pay for the resources you use in terms of storage and compute power.

The company has the following requirements for the new solution:

  • Move data away from Excel.
  • Standard solution with minimal costs.
  • Scalable solution that could eventually support big data.
  • Data import must be automated.
  • Good accessibility, allowing data to be easily accessed through various reporting tools.
  • Support for SQL queries for data lookups.
  • Minimize administrative tasks related to security.

Standard Cloud Solution Ensures Scalability, Security, and Accessibility

After analyzing available standard tools, we chose Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics as the platform of choice. The cloud solution meets several key requirements related to scalability, security, and accessibility. Synapse Analytics offers numerous integration interfaces to a wide range of external systems, ensuring that data importation doesn’t require expensive custom development. Additionally, the platform provides Synapse SQL querying, which simplifies individual access to data.

Furthermore, Synapse has the advantage of only activating compute resources when data is being imported or transformed. This makes the solution highly cost-effective for businesses looking to centralize and make data accessible within Synapse.

Data bliver indsamlet i skyen

Democratization of Data or “One True Source”

It’s not uncommon for Excel or CSV files to be passed around within companies and used as data sources for reports or data insights. This is an unfortunate practice, as data can become outdated, or extractions may contain errors in various ways.

By having a common data foundation for reporting and data insights, you ensure that everyone uses the same factual basis, and that data is always in the same version. A solution like Azure Synapse also means that more people within the company can leverage the data, ensuring new insights that benefit business development.

AI Creates Added Value from Existing Data

The availability of data is a clear advantage of Azure Synapse. Excel, Power BI, or other reporting tools can easily access data from Synapse. Data can be easily visualized on internal or external websites. AI can also be used to generate new knowledge – or even better, create new opportunities. For example, in the specific case where the goal is to generate new leads based on sales and financial data. The long-term ambition is to use AI to create a list of sales opportunities from the company’s existing data. At this stage, data becomes not just a static retrospective tool but an innovative asset that generates added value for the business.

The specific case from the finance department of a mid-sized company is a good example that shows how SMEs can centralize data in a standard cloud solution. Data insights are not just reserved for companies with large budgets and big data. Most businesses have data with untapped potential. By making data available to everyone in the company, you can gain significant advantages and new opportunities that can secure your company’s success in a competitive market.

Contact us if you want help maximizing the value of your data.

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