5 Factors You Should Know For Investing in Big Data Analytics

A vast number of companies with different industrial background collaborate with data analytics companies to increase operational competence and to make better business decisions. When big data is handled properly they shall lead to immense change in a business. Though data analysis is a powerful tool, most companies are not ready to include data analysis software as their practical source. Purchasing and downloading data analytics isn’t as simple as buying a software. There are many things that must be considered before a company invests in analytics software.

You should know where your company exactly stands in terms of analysis system and consider the following things before investing in big data analytics.

What you want to find out from your data?

You should know for what you will be using your analytics software before investing on them. If you don’t know what business problem you need to solve then collecting data and setting up an analysis system isn’t productive. So check for areas of your company where the current process is not effective. Look out for different questions you need to answer prior to investing in a solution so you can adopt for an appropriate analytics partner.

Do you have enough data to work?

You should have significant and reliable data to perform data analytics. Therefore, you need to see if your company has enough amount of data or workable information to perform analysis. Also you should determine if the company can afford and have ability to collect such information. This process can become expensive considering the labor cost, hours spent on categorizing the information and data storage. So it is also necessary to consider data aggregation and storage cost before moving forward.

Do you have the capital to invest for analytics software?

Depending on companies need the price range for analytics software varies. Few software vendors offer data warehousing, which can be ideal for companies that require data storage and analytics as well as have large budget. Other vendors give visualization systems, both on SaaS and on-premise form. As visualization comes in varied price ranges, your company will be able to find a solution that fits your budget.

Besides the software cost you should estimate the cost of effort and service which is five times the software price. The investment can change depending on the size and depth of the project, but it’s necessary to completely understand the costs involved in data analytics before investing.

Do you have resource to work with your data?

There are many analytics systems that are automatic but you still need user interaction and management. It is necessary to have data engineer for constant data ingestion, organization and provision of data marts for data analysts and data scientists, who in turn will continue to work on new insights and predictions by updating the data processing rules and algorithms/models as per changing business needs. Also having resource for analytical decisions will avoid confusions and that specific person should be able to allot time and materials for scrutinizing and making reports.

Are you capable to take action?

At the final stage, you would have collected data, identified the problem, invested in the software and performed analysis; but to make everything worth you have to be ready to act immediately and efficiently. With the recently discovered data, you have required information to change your organizations practice. Whereas executing a new project could be expensive so it’s essential to be ready with resources necessary for implementing the change.

Data intelligence platform can be a powerful tool to improve a company’s efficiency. So remember to consider these five factors before investing in big data analytics.