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Data Warehousing – The Essential Component to Business Intelligence

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Data is a factor which can be very useful in driving your business goals forward. Companies now have more access to data than ever before which is collected from different sources like social networks, manufacturing data, retail, point of sale (PoS). They are using a combination of data from various sources to get a fuller picture of their business, to learn more about current performance and future opportunities and to take their decision-making ability to the next level.

Data warehouses have become increasingly popular in business circles. Many big corporations and business organizations are making data warehouses a significant part of their daily operations.

You must be wondering how a data warehouse is useful for my business and how it is related to business intelligence. Let’s first look at the basics of a data warehouse, its connection with business intelligence, its main benefits and then how it can be a great asset for your company.

Data warehouse

WHAT IS DATA WAREHOUSING?

Data warehousing (DW or DWH) is a data management system which is designed to enable business intelligence activities. It is also named as enterprise data warehouse (EDW). The purpose of data warehouses is to perform queries and analysis. In simple words, it is the process of collecting, storing and managing large amounts of information from heterogeneous sources. Data could come from both historical and current sources. You can easily retrieve information from a year, two years or even older from a data warehouse.
Business Intelligence (BI) uses business analytics, data visualization, data mining and data tools to help you make informed decisions about your business. Cloud data services, dashboards, Ad hoc reporting and data warehousing are examples of online tools used by business intelligence to create value from large data sources. Business intelligence is a combination of technologies, user management system, methodologies to help in providing the strategic use of data and help generate useful insights about the company.

WHAT IS THE REALTIONSHIP BETWEEN BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE AND DATA WAREHOUSING?

Data warehouses have become an integral part of business intelligence. They are specifically designed for data analysis, reporting and decision making. Business intelligence finds insights, perceptions and forecasts about the current business situation by leveraging data from a data warehouse. Business intelligence tools can easily access data stored in a data warehouse. Historical and current data stored in the data warehouse is used to create annual or quarterly analytical reports so that it can be used for intelligent business decisions.

Data warehousing and business intelligence work simultaneously for maximum business output. Some differences between data warehousing and business intelligence are :

 

  • Database creation and its integration, data profiling and business validation are summarised by data warehousing whereas business intelligence uses tools and technologies which concentrate on statistics, counts and visualization.
  • Data warehousing involves data cleansing, data transformation, data distribution, metadata management, data acquisition, data recovery and backup. Business intelligence deals with data mining and visualization, online analytical processing (OLAP) and various query/ reporting tools.
  • Data warehousing and business intelligence use different tools. DW engineers are proficient in using Amazon Redshift, Informatica and Ab Initio software while Cognos, MSBI, Pentaho, QlikView are commonly used by Business intelligence teams.
  • Data warehouses are usually designed and managed by data or software engineers while the business intelligence side is usually dealt by top management and executives.

HOW DO DATA WAREHOUSES WORK?

A data warehouse is designed to have multiple databases. In each database, the data is organised in tables and columns. In each column, the data is described i.e. data field, string or an integer. Tables are organised inside of folders or schemas. Query tools are used by the schema to find out which data tables to access and analyse.

WHY DO YOU NEED A DATA WAREHOUSE?

Data warehousing provides great support to management’s decision making process. Some other key benefits for having a data warehouse in your business are.

 

  • In data warehouses, the data is conceptualised and compiled properly providing companies with comprehensive support in business decisions, in making future plans and setting organizational goals.
  • By using business intelligence tools like Oracle BI, MSBI, QlikView information is accessed from data warehouses making it simple to create presentable and granular reports, charts and graphs for top executives to make effective business decisions in fields like sales, marketing , customer service and finance.
  • Data stored in data warehousing is subject oriented. As the data is gathered from numerous sources, data warehouses let companies use specific data according to their desired subject helping the company to grow strategically.
  • Data warehouses also support data integration which means that data is dynamic and can be used in various business departments.
  • Data stored in a data warehouse is structured in a time specific manner which makes it easier for companies to access data of a specific time period.
  • Data warehouses keep data safe and secure and are more of an efficient option when it comes to data storage. It provides cohesiveness and helps to store future data.
  • The size of the data warehouses can also be increased depending on the size of the data.
  • Another important feature of having a data warehouse is the accuracy of data. Incorrect data can affect the growth of a company. As most advanced technologies are involved in data protection, hence the data remains discrete and multi-dimensional.
 

Previously, data warehousing was managed by established IT companies like Oracle. Still, as more and more companies are getting familiarised with cloud-based services, data warehousing services are now being offered by us.

In today’s highly competitive market, executive-level management is constantly under pressure to make timely decisions. To discuss more Data warehouses services, let us know are consultants will contact you.

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