Bring Your Own Device, Data Warehouse and Big Data

Do you want to give your employees the option of using their own mobile devices at work? Do you want to consolidate and analyze your company's data deluge? Do you want to make decisions faster and anticipate trends?

Information technology will not IT is not only important, but also an integral part of our environment, our daily lives, and modern business processes. The larger a company, the greater the potential for maximizing impact, and the more strongly the existing IT infrastructure influences management decisions. But even small businesses can effectively increase efficiency and employee satisfaction.

Bring Your Own Device – The Heterogeneity of the IT Landscape

The digital world is littered with diverse devices and a wide variety of operating systems, each tailored to its intended use. If you want to allow your employees the freedom to use their own devices on the company network, a multitude of questions arise – ranging from data protection to maintenance and support.

There is no simple answer to the "Bring Your Own Device" question, as the business landscape is at least as diverse as IT itself. The solution lies in focusing on fundamental questions that affect every company. These questions allow us to derive advantages and disadvantages, as well as added value and concrete implementation strategies.

One company might choose to cover the maintenance costs of the devices, while another might be willing to provide the devices to the employees themselves. Still others leave these aspects entirely to the employees and focus solely on the security of company data, while benefiting from increased productivity through mobility.

Data Warehouse – A data storage facility for the company

A data warehouse is a database where all relevant data from all data sources of a company converges. The principle is based on extracting and transforming existing databases, operational systems, and individual files, and standardizing them into a consolidated format.

Through Online Analytical Processing (OLAP), this data is aggregated and analyzed in various stages with the goal of answering user queries. An example is the sales figures for a specific product, in a specific location, within a specific time period. The time period under consideration can then be changed, and the corresponding information will scale accordingly.

The presentation should remain as clear and concise as possible. Statistical forecasts are also possible using data mining. The more complex the possible queries, the more precisely specific business areas, from sales to marketing, can be analyzed, and a data warehouse becomes a comprehensive decision-making tool for management.

Disadvantages of the data warehouse include the relatively coarse data, which is limited by standardization, and its timeliness, as the data warehouse is usually only filled with new data on a daily basis.

If a company generates an above-average amount of relevant data, Big Data can help gain new insights from the existing information. In this case, Big Data is a collective term for technologies that help collect and analyze large volumes of data. Often, these mountains of data are no longer easily usable. Real-time analysis and a high level of detail are usually paramount.

Specialized methods are used to uncover new trends, patterns, and previously unknown correlations in the collected data. This fosters innovation and unlocks unforeseen potential within the company. For example, real-time monitoring of existing parameters allows for the early detection of production problems. Furthermore, sales-oriented systems can be implemented to automate decision-making or serve as a comprehensive data foundation for management.

The main focus of Big Data is its fine-grained nature, which allows for much more comprehensive statistical analyses than a data warehouse, which gets lost in the sheer volume of detail. However, the necessary statistical knowledge for using Big Data should not be underestimated, nor should the associated costs.

The benefits of all technology

All the concepts presented can be useful within a company. However, the emphasis is on "can," because every technology has its price, and its implementation, in particular, must be carefully weighed beforehand using a value-added analysis. For example, pursuing a big data solution can certainly be worthwhile, but if the benefit compared to a often more affordable data warehouse solution is minimal, then a sound cost-benefit analysis is essential.

Furthermore, the use of mobile devices in the company is often indispensable, but this should be done under strict company guidelines to prevent the outflow of sensitive company data.

If this is not economically feasible, then at least its use must be prohibited. This is a solution that is not always preferable to any other solution. The associated losses must then be accepted. Generally, IT decisions are usually based on the following points.

Five key aspects of an IT decision:

1. Legal aspects should not be underestimated at the beginning of a planning phase and should be continuously monitored throughout the planning process, because a fully planned IT project should not ultimately fail because of this or generate immense additional costs.
2. Security is a key criterion when it comes to company data, because the right information in the wrong hands can result in immense economic damage.
3. Technical feasibility should be consistent with the previous points, as increased functionality usually comes at a higher cost. Furthermore, the goal is to create a system that requires as little maintenance as possible and actually fulfills the defined functionality.
4. The benefits and monetary value should be clearly defined in advance. This helps avoid disappointment later on, allows parameters to be adjusted during the planning phase, and ensures maximum implementation.
5. Costs must be weighed against added value. Not only short-term investments for commissioning, but also long-term operating and maintenance costs must be considered.

Where we can help

Due to frequent inquiries and, in particular, the challenge of easily understanding complex IT systems, we have decided to launch an IT portfolio. Do you want to better leverage the modern information landscape for your business? Are you an IT decision-maker? Do you want to weigh your options? We have the solution – IT explained simply and concisely.

The currently available topics of BYOD, data warehouse , and big data mark the starting point, and you decide how we proceed. That's precisely why we welcome your feedback, praise, suggestions, and specific topic requests!