Selecting Online Data Warehouses
Online data warehouses are designed to store information in a permanent system that is accessible to all employees who need information for making decisions. They also offer a historical archive of data and serve as an authoritative source of information that allows users to examine data from various sources without relying on outdated information.
There are many aspects to take into account when selecting the right platforms, architecture and tools for a Data Warehouse. For instance should the warehouse be deployed on-premises or cloud-based? Should it employ extract transform and loads (ETL) methods or direct-to-database integration? How often should data be refreshed? What data capture capabilities be used to capture updates and feed them into the warehouse? The final decision to select the best technology should be based on an organization’s specific business use cases.
A bicycle manufacturer, for instance could use its data store to understand the current customer behavior. It could find that its customers are mostly women older than 50 and may be keen to learn more about the retail outlets they prefer to shop at for bicycles. This information could help the company improve its marketing and product development efforts.
A group of IT professionals could utilize their data warehouse as a tool to support auditing processes and regulatory compliance by providing historical records that can be analyzed. This can save a business time and money by removing redundant information.
