As a long-time part of this industry, I have spent a good part of the last decade talking about the digital transformation. Call it the digital transformation or the data-led transformation, but this transformation has been the talk of the town for a long time now.
Not only are organizations geared toward achieving a better analytics setup, but they are also on the lookout for a more efficient data policy in the process. With many cloud service providers around us offering AI as a service, companies can tap into these ready-made options and enjoy a certain extent of customization options. Creating an AI setup of your own can be a tiresome task, as you have to feed different algorithms into the setup, and wait for it to deliver the right analysis on the data fed into it. As a proud Exasol partner I discussed the analytics strategy for an AI driven future with Helena Schwenk, the Market Intelligence Specialist at Exasol, and Mathias Golombek, the Chief Technology Officer for Exasol.
One of the benefits of getting a third party cloud AI solution is that organizations have to pay only for what they are using, and not the model as a whole. Managing a whole model can be a bit on the higher side when it comes to costs, whereas a cloud model is more cost-effective. A recent survey conducted by Deloitte found out that over 39 percent of all companies are looking to acquire their AI solutions in the form of a cloud-based service, rather than 15 percent that selected an on-premise solution. The on-premise solution does sound attractive, but the effort required for it scares organizations away. These deep learning models on the cloud can give companies immediate access to computer power that was previously inaccessible.
What does cloud technology mean for your organization? And, how can you leverage it to remain competitive in the market for years to come? We answer these questions for you in the following sections.
Support Critical Development and Innovation
Companies that are using the cloud as part of their AI models can benefit from the competitive advantages on offer. Not only do they get to enjoy attractive incentives from the cloud provider they work with, but these incentives help give them a competitive edge in the market.
Going to the cloud can also help upgrade your business applications and improve the quality of the output you get from them. The business applications would be able to give more impactful analysis on data, and would increase the product development cycles. If you have quality data on your hands, the AI systems present on the cloud can help give you the platform you need to leverage that data and get the most out of it. Your performance capabilities will be enhanced and real-time analysis will help set you apart from competitors within the market.
Takes You Wherever the Market Goes
With so much happening around us and AI progressing at a rate of knots, organizations just want to be ready for what is to come in the future. The key aspect of being ready for the future is to step wherever the market takes you. Organizations have to manage the transition to a digital era, and should be ready for the migration.
Modern business intelligence is different from the traditional approach, with some of the major hallmarks being:
- Empowering agility within businesses. Processes have become fast, and business intelligence is now required to keep pace with this agility.
- Business intelligence will provide the sheer power that is required for future growth in the industry. This intelligence will be presented in the form of insights pertaining to what customers really want.
- Business intelligence will now be focused on a two-tier approach: a layer for data storage and a layer for operational analytics.
- There will be an automated data integration framework in place to assist organizations with easy, agile and scalable delivery of data.
- The unification of BI with AI for intelligent results.
Businesses can be future-ready by having open frameworks rather than proprietary solutions for all matters. A hybrid setup will work well here, as the key systems will be controlled by you.
Accelerate Data Management and Analytics Capabilities
Being part of the cloud offers you a way to scale your analytics capabilities and improve your data management structure. The real-time assistance of the hybrid cloud can amplify the rate at which you generate insights. Additionally, with so many risks associated with data management on premises, the cloud can make your job easier by adding the security you need.
Legacy systems often lack the structural capabilities that are required for structuring your data and ensuring that it remains clean at all times. A good hybrid cloud setup can keep your data structured for a longer period of time and can provide you with the security you need for your data.
“With all these benefits, organizations will want to build their future applications on the premise of the public cloud. Customers are on a journey toward the cloud; the rate, level of cloud adoption and the end goal will vary with vertical, company size and geographical factors playing a key part. There is no one answer when it comes to determining how and where data should be managed in these scenarios, especially as the choice depends on an organization’s view to data sovereignty, sensitivity and gravity, plus their cloud adoption maturity and the types of workloads they are looking to support. Above all, a hybrid cloud gives organizations the flexibility to extend and augment their existing on-premises data workloads while supporting different cloud data workloads and use cases,” believes Helena Schwenk of Exasol.Organizations will be able to achieve the competitive advantage they crave and will have better data accessibility. Data will now be accessible across the board, without the creation of any silos. All of your staff will be able to access the data on the cloud from their respective systems. Additionally, the presence of your data on the cloud can help drive better insights for the future. You can achieve better insights for your data and work on that for advanced results.
Shaping the End State of Information
Companies across the globe are looking for ways to make data accessible and available for everyone across the board. Gone are the days when the availability of data was required for just one specific department, and the others could work around them. If you want genuine insights to be extracted from your data, you have to make it accessible and available to all of your employees. Moving to the cloud can make accessibility easier for organizations, as all of their employees can remain connected through one platform.
Information and data are currently located on legacy systems within organizational premises, which is why accessibility and real-time insights are found lacking. The move to the cloud can address this concern thoroughly.
What it takes to be Future-Ready
Adapting to the constantly changing market landscape around us is key to being ready for what the market may hold in the future. AI strategies are at the forefront of all tactical organizational decisions. Your hybrid cloud system can help you gain real business value through AI by incorporating all the facets in one place.
