Every aspect of your business involves the collection of data. Your sales, marketing, and even employee performance encompass valuable insight through numbers. In simplest terms, cloud analytics is a way of storing and analyzing all of your analytics data in the cloud. However, it’s a bit more complex than that. 

What is Cloud Analytics?

Before a digital solution to data storage existed, everything was handled manually. But with advanced technologies in the cloud, everyone now has a more reliable and affordable way to store data.

Cloud analytics is hosted on a platform online. Major centers will provide the necessary processing power and storage to extract, process, and analyze large amounts of data. Some major companies utilize hundred of terabytes that need analysis, which can be done through cloud analytics.

Types of Cloud Analytics

Not all analytics are the same. Each has its own unique set of features and capabilities. Three main types of platforms host cloud analytics:

• Private: Gives businesses the ability to manage and control everything on a private platform where nothing about the infrastructure is shared.
• Public: Multiple people and companies using the platform. Businesses can change their services as needed. 
• Hybrid: A way for businesses to keep sensitive information on-site while other details can be stored on a public cloud.

Features

As mentioned before, each cloud computing platform offers different solutions to different problems.

Your best bet is to find a company that offers the most features to help your company become more productive. Some of the more common types of features to look for include:

• Data storage
• Analytics models
• Reporting
• Data Sharing
• Application processing
• Data sources
• Data models

Fear of Security

One of the biggest fears people have in terms of transitioning their data to the cloud is the lack of control over the information. Protecting assets is critical to any business. But as technology develops, so does the level of cyber security.

Many cloud companies provide multi-level security measures that can also detect a threat before it becomes a significant issue. For companies to scale their business, they’re going to have to learn how to get comfortable with the transition.

Always make sure to vet the company you’re intending to work with beforehand. They must provide you with SOC or ISO27001 security certifications to be compliant within your industry.

Benefits

Big Data is one of the top ways to transform your business. It allows you to get the necessary insight into operations, consumers, marketing strategies, and so much more. But it’s not just the Fortune-500 companies that can reap the benefits.

Small businesses have seen tremendous results by learning from their reporting. It’s also one of the most affordable ways to analyze your most important data. This makes it even more appealing to some of the smaller companies.

Because of the on-demand flexibility of many cloud platforms out there, you can continuously shift your cloud needs based on your company’s needs. Analytics in the cloud is a way to also facilitate collaboration and find the answers you need faster than ever before.

The biggest goal of using cloud analytics is to scale profitability. Running reports on your data can help you to see the areas of your business that need improvement. Or on the flip side, it can also allow you to see where your company is thriving.

How to Start

The idea of making the switch to using the cloud seems overwhelming at first. There is so much data to transfer without disrupting the day-to-day operations of your business. But if you find the right company to work with, they can make the process seamless without compromising your information or workflow.