The Down to Earth Benefits of Cloud-based Big Data Analytics
Posted by: Nirmal Singh
Sophisticated technology continues to get the headlines, but tomorrow’s challenges look very similar to today’s. Given the rapid pace of technological change and its continuing impact on business operations, understanding where today’s worker stands on these issues is of critical importance.
Last month, Ricoh Europe commissioned a survey of more than 2,200 employees called the Tech Evolved Workplace to gain further insight into how they expect future innovations to reshape their work environment. The vision shared by employees was very futuristic. This included the use of holograms in meetings, drones to deliver presentations, and even "brain-to-brain" data transmission via Bluetooth. But at the same time, they believe that workers in the year 2036 will use that technology to overcome the same types of workplace issues they face today. For example, when discussing the benefits of the Tech Evolved Workplace employees identified process optimisation, improved access to information and enhanced productivity as key considerations.1 This goes to show that no matter how advanced technology becomes, it all comes back to having better access to your critical business information. Of course, this is part of what Big Data can do in the enterprise — specifically, the innovative role of cloud technology in fielding productive business analytics.
The Future Is Now
I’ve written before about implementing Big Data initiatives, from building a stronger business case though cross-departmental collaboration, to increasing the customer value chain by including external data sets in Big Data analytics. The impact of cloud technology to accelerate and make better use of information derived from Big Data analytics—especially in larger organisations—cannot be underestimated.
It’s something that we’ve been doing here at Ricoh since 2011, with the goal of creating a centralised infrastructure and cloud environment that allows us to not only access information securely, but also give our employees the ability to access networks from across Europe. With the differing national regulations governing cloud and data centres, rolling out this pan-European cloud has been challenging yet highly rewarding.
Having access to a robust cloud analytics infrastructure offers your business several distinct advantages:
Having access to a robust cloud analytics infrastructure offers your business several distinct advantages:
But the most important benefit? Users can gain access to the right information when they need it.
There is no need to wait for futuristic technology. Cloud-based big data analytics provides the ready-made infrastructure to support data-driven decision making right now.
There is no need to wait for futuristic technology. Cloud-based big data analytics provides the ready-made infrastructure to support data-driven decision making right now.
Workers at organisations using cloud-based analytics are already realising quantifiable benefits of timely access to the right information. Conducted by Aberdeen Group, research focused on larger enterprises revealed that users of cloud-based analytics were 58 percent more likely to be satisfied with the speed of information delivery than workers at organisations not leveraging the cloud. Furthermore, they were 53 percent more likely to be satisfied they had the right information needed to support their decisions.2
Have the Right Approach
Greater information agility can foster a data-driven approach for your entire organisation. And thanks to the economics of the cloud paradigm building this analytic infrastructure is available to virtually any sized organisation.
But make no mistake: cloud-based analytics is not a plug and play solution. You can’t just expect good things to happen once the infrastructure is built. You need to ask the right questions — namely, “what would I do if I knew this?” You need to consider more than just technology —capturing, analysing, and making the right information available to your workers requires better processes and an understanding of how your workforce is most productive. You need to break down information silos within your organisation that are hampering productivity, in order to better collaborate to scope workflow and data requirements.
You will also need to either encourage the growth of different skillsets through your organisation, or bring in workers who have the required attributes. Managing these types of changes can be difficult, but organisations must achieve a better understanding of their information processes as a whole.
But make no mistake: cloud-based analytics is not a plug and play solution. You can’t just expect good things to happen once the infrastructure is built. You need to ask the right questions — namely, “what would I do if I knew this?” You need to consider more than just technology —capturing, analysing, and making the right information available to your workers requires better processes and an understanding of how your workforce is most productive. You need to break down information silos within your organisation that are hampering productivity, in order to better collaborate to scope workflow and data requirements.
You will also need to either encourage the growth of different skillsets through your organisation, or bring in workers who have the required attributes. Managing these types of changes can be difficult, but organisations must achieve a better understanding of their information processes as a whole.
1 “Europe’s workforce gears up for the era of drones, carrier nodes and hologram business meetings.” Ricoh News, July 2014. http://www.ricoh-europe.com/about-ricoh/news/2014/ricoh-europe-europes-workforce-gears-up-for-the-era-of-drones-carrier-nodes-and-hologram-business-meetings.aspx
2 “Cloud Analytics for the Large Enterprise: Fast Value, Pervasive Impact”, Peter Krensky, The Aberdeen Group, June, 2014. http://www.aberdeen.com/research/9274/RR-cloud-analytics-large-enterprise.aspx/content.aspx
2 “Cloud Analytics for the Large Enterprise: Fast Value, Pervasive Impact”, Peter Krensky, The Aberdeen Group, June, 2014. http://www.aberdeen.com/research/9274/RR-cloud-analytics-large-enterprise.aspx/content.aspx
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