BI in the cloud: push and pull factors

The increase in cloud adoption, coupled with a more mindful approach to Big Data analytics, are giving rise to an increasingly attractive proposition for many CIOs – BI in the cloud.

 

Leveraging Big Data can help companies improve competitive positioning, create new revenue streams and generate new businesses. However, for Big Data to make sense, organizations must be able to have the capability to sort through the mass, make the information easily accessible and equip themselves with analytics that drive better business insights and sales intelligence.

 

Conventional BI methodologies are increasingly challenged by the onset of Big Data. Previously, business intelligence was carried out on-premise with system managers conscientiously monitoring corporate databases. However, the proliferation of unstructured data is rendering on-premise BI tools inadequate. Without the right tools, big analytics is simply too time-consuming. The increased volume and complexity presented by the rise of unstructured data requires tens of thousands of servers running parallel software to handle the varying complex requirements of each dataset. This causes a strain on IT budgets.

  

Shifting BI to the Cloud to optimize BA.

 

Most BI in the cloud providers operate on a pay-as-you-use and pay-as-you-grow model, so companies need not invest in expensive solutions upfront. Migrating to the cloud makes BI more affordable, enabling enterprise-class BI functions to be made available even to small and mid-sized companies.

 

The elastic characteristic of the cloud also enables BI functions to readily scale up or down according to business needs. BI in the cloud provides companies with a scalable base which can easily expand to meet surges in data volume.