06 Apr Top cloud data platform benefits
The benefits of cloud data platforms are vast.
Today, in the digital age, modern businesses thrive off data. Without data and insights, businesses would not be able to evolve and succeed as technology has fast-tracked our ability to better understand customers, meaning those who do not catch up end up falling behind.
Data is especially pivotal to many businesses, as it highlights the strengths and weaknesses of business processes, communicates market conditions, and provides evidence based insights into your business strategies that can bring about more profitable outcomes or better citizen experiences.
These days, there is an abundance of data generated by and for businesses. Whilst having a large volume of data is advantageous, if it’s disorganised, this can cause huge problems.
Data can define the success of businesses, but without a unified data system, it can be meaningless. This is why businesses need a cloud data platform.
What is a data platform?
A data platform is typically a cloud based data management solution with an operational and management console that allows organisations to collect, organise and store all of their data in one place.
This makes data more valuable, as it allows businesses to see the bigger picture and understand how all their data works together to form meaningful insights.
Data platforms also benefit users, as they collect and store user data, which also provides users with targeted solutions.
Think about how Doordash collects and uses data. With the app, you can determine your previous food orders, their prices and what time they were delivered. You can also benefit from special recommendations based on your usual orders. Data platforms can do the same for your business on a more complex level.
Why are data platforms used?
Data platforms are used for a variety of reasons, but the main purpose is that they assist businesses in managing and understanding their data.
Data platforms are used to:
Keep all of your data in one place
Data platforms help businesses organise their data by keeping it all in one place. This makes it easy for businesses to find and access insights, as they don’t have to search, manage and integrate multiple databases.
Help you make better sense of your data
Often data lives in separate silos, and because it is disjointed, businesses can have multiple copies of the same data, which can be ineffective, inefficient and costly. Data platforms combine isolated data, which helps businesses generate clearer insights.
Having disorganised data is like having pieces of a puzzle thrown into different areas of a house. When isolated, these puzzle pieces make no sense and have no use. But once the pieces are collected and placed on one table, you can start putting them together.
The same is true for data. Once all of your data is in one place, you can start putting it together to see the bigger picture. Data platforms unify your data, making it interpretable and meaningful.
To make your data more secure
Data platforms also provide security for your data.
Data silos do not have a single security layer, so without a data platform, your data could be unprotected. Meanwhile, data platforms keep businesses and customers safe from security breaches.
They also ensure that your data complies with regulatory standards. Because all of your data is in one place, you can easily audit your data when required.
What are the top data platform benefits?
Here are some of the top data platform benefits to consider:
Data platforms declutter your data
One of the many data platform benefits is that they declutter data. By keeping all of your data in one place, data platforms allow you to eliminate any replicated data you may have.
This will make your data more organised, and organisation is the key to successfully leveraging your data long term. Organised data is much easier to read for data analysts, managers and end users.
Data platforms provide you with clearer insights
Data platforms provide you with higher quality, organised data, which can be used to generate solid insights to improve your business.
The best part? You don’t need to be a data genius to use them. They’re designed for the average business to be able to pull data and insights from.
These insights can help inform business decisions across an entire organisation.
Data platforms increase the potential for personalisation
The more organised data you have, the better you can personalise your services.
Data platforms allow you to pull together reports quickly and easily – meaning that you can offer a more personalised customer experience.
Consider Spotify Wrapped. At the end of each year, Spotify provides each user with a personalised breakdown of all the music and podcasts they had listened to in the previous year. They also provide users with curated playlists and intricate statistics. This personalisation enhances the user experience, and makes Spotify unique within their market.
Your business could also benefit from this level of personalisation. Providing a tailored experience to your customers will likely generate more opportunity to grow your business through deeper engagement with your customers, and the only way to achieve this is through having organised data.
Data platforms increase efficiency
Above all, data platforms ensure that business can run more efficiently by ensuring that data remains organised and managed. If the data is easy to access and read, then your business processes will run more smoothly.
Data platforms provide you with an easy way to sort, filter and interpret your data.
Businesses are typically generating more data volumes by the day, so finding data solutions should be a top priority.
To find out how InfoCentric could help you enjoy all of the benefits of a cloud data platform, reach out today.