Data Warehousing
Date:
By: Philip Howard
Classification: Research Report
If your company has decided it wants to purchase a ‘data warehouse’ this must be because there is a large amount of data being accumulated, typically spread among disparate databases, which needs to be accessed to gain useful information on volumes and trends to further business competitiveness. Deciding to buy is the easy bit. The technology is complex with many options – and the market is constantly changing.
First you’ll need to decide what data to store and the types of queries you will need to make. That can help you gauge what type of data warehouse is likely to be best for you – or maybe you’ll find you need more than one for different purposes (which is not uncommon) – and the expertise needed to implement and manage the data. Only then are you in a position to evaluate the software (and sometimes specific hardware) for your needs from the various vendors, and what it will cost. Even then, can you be sure of asking the right questions so as to make a sensible choice?
It is for these reasons that Philip Howard, Bloor’s Research Director for Technology, has developed no less than four reports on data warehousing, starting with a ‘domain’ review of the whole marketplace to help you decide on the appropriate type of software for your business. You can progress as appropriate to the other three reports that explore in depth three major data warehouse categories:
- Generic – single data warehouses designed to do everything,
- Analytic – to handle complex or unpredictable queries that might take forever in a generic structure, and
- Packaged – automating data warehouse creation.
The low-down on the options and what will best fit your organisation can cut through the confusion and save the thousands a wrong choice would cost.