Online data warehouses are designed to centralized information in a nonvolatile database that is accessible to all employees who need information for making decisions. They serve as an historical archive of data and a single source of truth, providing users with the ability to compare data from different sources without relying on outdated information.
When it comes time to choose the right platform, architecture and tools for the data warehouse, there are plenty of aspects to take into consideration. For example, should the warehouse be installed on-premises or in the cloud? Should it use extract transform and load (ETL) methods or direct-to database integration? How often should data be refreshed? How will the change data capture capability be used to capture and feed updates to the warehouse? The business requirements of the organization should be the primary determinant in the selection of the right technology.
For instance the bicycle manufacturer could utilize its data warehouse to gain insight into trends and customer behavior. It could find that women over 50 comprise a majority of its customers, and it might be interested in finding out more about the stores where those customers virtual data warehouses prefer to shop for bicycles. This information could help the company improve its marketing and development strategies.
Or, an IT team could make use of its data warehouse to assist the process of auditing and regulatory compliance by efficiently supplying historical records for review. This could help save time and resources by eliminating redundant data.
