Data-Driven Decision Making: The Impact of the Cloud in Business Intelligence
Every business in the modern age is trying to get an edge over the competition and trying to improve from within. To do this successfully, they need to know what their business is doing now so they can invest in the right areas.
This is not always easy, as people who are too close to the business cannot see what is going on, and they make decisions based on anecdotal evidence or opinion rather than facts. With the amount of data that flows through a business of any size, it is easy to take a snapshot of the current situation, and the cloud has taken that one step forward for businesses of all sizes.
The Impact of the Cloud on Business Intelligence
It Makes BI Available to Companies That Would Not Have Had Access Before
The problem with analyzing huge amounts of data is that it takes a huge amount of computing power to do it. This is often beyond the means of many small businesses that do not have the resources for the hardware or software required to carry out the analysis involved, and so would, therefore, fall behind those that do.
By using acumatica cloud erp or a similar service, this problem ceases to exist, as there will be the space and power to get the data businesses of all sizes need. Rather than having to pay out for physical servers and the inevitable constant hardware upgrades, small businesses simply have a resource on tap, leveling the playing field.
It Adds Flexibility and Scalability to Existing Operations
Even businesses that had the resources before can benefit from the impact the cloud has had on business intelligence. Their old system may have been hobbled by the limits of their physical server, and using the cloud will give them flexibility they may not have had before.
The same goes for scalability, where an increase in the amount or type of data that was being analyzed, or even a software upgrade, would again be restricted by the size and capability of the physical server. A cloud-based solution is easily scalable rather than having to wait for hardware upgrades to take place.
It Allows Finding to Be Communicated Easily
Of course, once you have all of this data, it needs to be communicated effectively to a workforce that might be working remotely. Having all of the relevant data sitting on the cloud, in easy-to-read charts and graphs, can be accessed and looked at in detail by everyone at the same time, rather than relying on a synopsis in an email. This allows for feedback from stakeholders in real-time, so those carrying out the analysis can tailor what they are looking at to provide more relevant results.
Final Thoughts
The impact of the cloud on BI has been massive, and not just by making it available to companies that might not previously have the resources. It brings greater flexibility to existing systems and scalability, which means businesses can move faster than before. It also allows results to be spread more widely so that those involved can see what needs to be done and, most importantly, why.
