We’re building a world of data. In just one second, almost 68,000 GB of information move around the internet. 8,000 tweets are sent. And 72,000 searches are made on Google (according to InternetLiveStats). Power is in data, in big data analysis and in the development of business intelligence. Unravelling this power can pose infrastructure challenges and impossible costs for many businesses. Big data and cloud computing have joined up to democratize access to business intelligence.
Big data and cloud computing
There are more people connected to the internet around the world than there are people without a connection. In addition, 17 billion objects are now connected to the Internet of Things. The amount of data being moved by people and things has gone through the roof, and it will continue to grow at an accelerated rate over the coming years. Analyzing this information opens doors to previously unknown knowledge, and it allows businesses to make more intelligent decisions (based on data rather than intuition) and to become much more efficient.
One of the main barriers to using big data technology is having the necessary processing and storage power in order to manage those volumes of data. On a local level, very few organizations can afford the necessary infrastructure. However, public cloud services, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Microsoft Azure, have created an access route to flexible and economic data analysis through the union of big data and cloud computing.
What’s more, cloud services don’t just provide technological power, they also contain all the tools necessary for the in-depth analysis of big data. Different database, analysis software and machine learning architectures, as well as a multitude of tutorials and training courses are within businesses’ reach, whatever their entry level.
Cloud-based business intelligence
Obtaining commercial value from big data largely depends upon the company’s ability to capture, store and process data coming from their own sources (mobile devices or sensors) or from third parties. Using a cloud infrastructure, available on request, simplifies those three processes, and considerably reduces costs compared with having your own internal infrastructures.
According to the report Using the cloud to maximize the value of big data, developed by 451 Research and AWS, these are the main advantages of cloud computing and of developing cloud-based business intelligence.
- Faster time to market, accelerating and improving decision making.
- Lower TCO (total cost of ownership) of operations.
- Reduced general administration and operating costs.
- Improved developer agility, reducing the time between concept, implementation and production.
- New revenue opportunities, thanks to opportunities derived from data analysis and cloud-based business intelligence.
In addition, cloud-based big data technology gives you instant access to a virtually unlimited processing infrastructure and storage capacity, on-demand use with high levels of flexibility and scalability, and improved information security (as well as a series of guarantees of compliance with data protection legislation).
Finally, centralized, cloud-based data management allows any authorized person to access information from any place and from any device, enabling decision-making based on real-time data. In essence, it allows the collection, analysis and interpretation of business data in a simple, quick flexible and economic manner.
Images | Unsplash/Stephen Dawson, NASA, rawpixel
