Tag: cloud

4 Major Misconceptions about The Cloud

Posted on June 11, 2015 by - Blog, Uncategorized

The rise of cloud technology, applications and its other components have totally flipped the technology industry on its head. Businesses and individuals have both benefited from the cloud’s ability to store their data wirelessly and in a way that is accessible from any location with wireless internet capability. And as it becomes more ubiquitous, more companies are looking to implement a cloud IT infrastructure to gain a competitive advantage over their rivals.

And cloud technology has definitely given some business owners the advantage by being able to utilize a more agile infrastructure that not only saves space, but creates more opportunity for where and how work is done. On the flip side, as many are making use of this new age resource, some are still left in the dust and fail to fully comprehend the mechanics of the technology.

That’s why we’ve broken down the most common misconceptions to clear up some of the characteristics that cloud technology can offer you.

Cloud BIIt’s Less Safe Than Other Methods

The literal imagery of a cloud storing your information makes it easy to assume that it’s in a vulnerable location that can easily be accessed. However, this is not the case. In fact, according to Gartner, more security breaches take place in on-premises data center environments.

Cloud storage areas are easily tempting as they store the information of several organizations, but additional security measures like encryption serve as an extra layer that prohibits access even when a cloud center’s security is compromised.

Once You Switch, It’s for the Entire Company

Another common misconception is that once a business decides to switch to cloud computing or storage, that is also applies to every possible area of the company as well. And that’s not necessarily the case. It’s absolutely depends on your company’s unique needs, current infrastructure and capacity.

It’s imperative to weight your options and list out the benefits of both cloud and non-cloud technology. For some processes or areas of your business, having an on-site solution may work best. To maximize your efficiency, many businesses are employing a hybrid structure where different vendors handle different tasks. Whatever works best for your business should be the top priority as a uniform platform may not be perfect.

It Will Cost More Than On-Site Storage

Cloud storageThis is also not necessarily the case. Switching to cloud takes away the financial need to hire an IT team to manage the technical aspects of your business. And in the long run, the responsibility of managing your cloud computing is put in your hands and will save you in the long run. Of course, however, this depends on how you will use the cloud.

For example, if you decide to build apps to reduce the need to purchase new hardware, this can amount to more than if you stayed with your previous infrastructure.

Productivity Will Spike Automatically

Just because you’ve implemented a new cloud structure doesn’t mean not much work is needed to see results. While some companies build applications that are hosted on the cloud, it can be a huge benefit to spend time figuring out how it can be best used. Combining both cloud and local storage to host your app is suggested to give you some flexibility and redundancy when using the app. It can certainly help productivity, but don’t bank on the cloud technology to do all the work for you.

In summary, making the switch to cloud, especially for your business intelligence needs, has the potential to greatly improve and simplify the way your company operates. With the use of a specialist to guide you through the process and an eager team that’s ready to maximize their performance, the possibilities for growth and productivity are endless — if implemented the right way, of course.

Don’t allow these misconceptions hinder you from exploring new options, but rather, let them guide you in making the right choice for your business, employees and customers.

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Data Privacy: What’s the Big Deal?

Posted on June 4, 2015 by - Big Data, Blog, General

For those in the private sector, collecting customer information serves as an incredible tool to not only engage with your customers, but to also cater to their needs. The amount of information that prospects are willing to give you also allows you to gauge their interest in your services.

However, while your website may be a primary source where clients and prospects share their information, many are questioning the actual use of this information.

Is it really being used to just send company emails or could their personal information end up in the hands of a third-party?
Data Privacy
Data privacy is a growing concern for those on the receiving end of businesses who make use of big data tools. While collecting data is ultimately voluntary for prospects and consumers, where it goes after it is given is the main concern. And who should be in charge of maintaining the order?

It’s clear that businesses shouldn’t be the ones in charge of maintaining the ethical order as the conflict of interest is clear — which means the responsibility can only be left in the hands of our government.

Data Privacy & The Government

When Edward Snowden revealed the telecommunication spying efforts done by the NSA on millions of American Verizon customers, it sparked the conversation surrounding the question of how secure is our information really?

Both the White House and the Federal Trade Commission have addressed the topics and are striving to make more stringent policies in protecting big data, but the topic still remains unsettled. But perhaps it shouldn’t be unexpected that the issue is ongoing. It’s especially difficult to monitor big data privacy concerns when the entity that is supposed to establish and maintain judicial law is overstepping its boundaries by wiretapping its own citizens.

Areas of Improvement

When you download a new application for your phone or new program for your desktop, you’ll likely have a Terms & Conditions page that requires your approval in order for you to use the new software. Companies often use heavy-loaded jargon to discourage users from reading the script entirely and it’s here where their attempt to be transparent smoothly slips the mind of the user.

As a business who is likely collecting big data, it’s advised to be as transparent as possible — without the lengthy distractions. Keeping your customers and prospects in the loop of where their personal information is going is key to building a solid relationship as the question will likely come up if your customers are aware of the growing concern of data privacy.

Data Brokers

The companies that purchase consumer information and analyze their purchasing behavior are known as data brokers. Once they’ve collected this information, they sell what they’ve gathered to companies who are looking to maximize their marketing.

While the consumer may or may not have signed off on this use of their data, their information is still out there being used.

Steps to Tighten Up Your Data Security

Make sure your cloud technology is up to par. This should be one of your first steps in protecting your most important big data.

As these cloud storage initiatives are affordable and flexible, it serves as the perfect medium to house your customer/prospect information. While great, it still has its limitations.

illustration of big data, file transfes and sharing filesKeeping your information safe from intruders is necessary as the information is likely stored in a public server, where it’s easier for intruders to infiltrate. Moving to a public cloud source gives you an extra layer of security where data is kept safe and visible to only you and whoever you assign responsibility to.

Another measure one could take is to sanitize your data. According to a data warehouse specialist from Emory University, Amy Dean says, “apply filtering, cleansing, pruning, conforming, matching, joining and diagnosing at the earliest touch points possible.” This relates more to the analytics portion of data storage and helps to ensure the quality of information that you’ve collected is correct and up to date.

Lastly, the most transparent way to ensure the ultimate data privacy is to allow your clients and even prospects to view the data you collected about them. Allow them to change information as they see fit — without making it a costly or difficult process. While this may seem unlikely for any company to do, in terms of transparency, it is the most fair.

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How the Cloud & IoT Work Together

Posted on May 4, 2015 by - Big Data, Blog, cloud BI

Every generation is making it easier for technology to solve our workplace needs. And if it’s not solving, it’s certainly improving company operations in ways we didn’t think were possible. This is the case especially when it comes to cloud technology and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Both of these innovations have made it possible for mobility and wireless capability to revolutionize the office. With cloud technology making it easier to store important documents, retrieve files from different platforms and more, the need for in-house storage is thrown out the window.

Cloud computing aims to help business owners by giving them the ability to access programs, files and applications wirelessly.The devices that have been birthed from the idea of IoT — smart objects — even have the capability of transferring data to the cloud without the need of much maintenance. Now, that’s impressive.

Both cloud and IoT work together to minimize the physical work employees have to perform while simplifying their workload and giving them the chance to manage processes wirelessly.

Cloud Computing

Now, as we’re confident that you’re aware of the concept of cloud technology that’s sweeping across all industries, we’ll give you a quick refresher. Cloud computing, put simply, is the ability to store and access information and programs over the internet as opposed to a hard drive or network server. The biggest benefit is being able to use your mobile devices to access your desired files from anywhere you may be.

What Exactly is IoT?

The Internet of Things is a concept where devices synchronize and give users the ability to transfer data over a network — without the need for human-to-human or human-to-device interaction. Virtually anything that can be assigned an IP address can become a part of this interconnection.

The Internet of Things (IoT) enables companies to benefit from synchronizing all of their devices so company operations can be done automatically — without the need for human-to-device interaction.In the manufacturing industry, an example of IoT would be a sensor in the inventory room that alerts computers to re-order more equipment once the supply reaches a certain level. This efficiently streamlines company operations where smaller tasks need not be done by employees, but rather supervised.

Benefits of this Relationship

Well, why are we talking about this? In short, this is the future. We’ve already said goodbye to wires and we’re currently saying goodbye to physical storage devices. Despite so many wires being cut, we’re still more connected than we’ve ever been. Both of these ideas feed off of each other and the workplace has a lot to benefit from this relationship.

We can expect to see more advancements in the workplace where employees can reduce their amount of physical work, and instead, focus on managing the wireless relationship that IoT and cloud computing have helped create.

Applying Technologies to Business Intelligence

If you’re a convenience store owner, winery manager or any business who benefits greatly with the use of big data, you can expect changes too. In the future, it’s possible that we will see IoT and cloud come together to revolutionize your data collection strategies. We’ve already seen Cloud BI become a useful tool for many, so we’re sure that full integration is not too far behind.

Perhaps your BI solution will integrate into your IoT where you’ll receive data updates when and how you want them delivered. Cloud technology can enable you to share these statistics with your management team — all before you even reach your office.

Now, while there’s a lot to still be desired as technology improves and as business owners learn new ways to use these innovations to their advantage, the future is looking very promising. For employees on the go and for those who would like to use multiple resources to achieve their goals, we can look forward to a stronger relationship that will change the workplace for the better in the coming years.

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3 Big Data Trends Changing the Game

Posted on April 13, 2015 by - Big Data, Blog, cloud BI, General

Having more NEW ways to visualize your business data helps executives understand what changes need to be made moving forward. In the industry of big data, there are many moving parts that are working together to provide businesses with an easier method to track their company operations. As we get deeper into the culture of interconnectivity, the value of having readable, statistical data rises to the top of an executive’s needs.

And these brand new ideas are popping up every day. To help you keep track of the latest updates in the data collection industry, we’ve outlined the latest big data trends that seem to be gaining the most traction as of late.

Analytics Are on the Rise

What’s a successful business without proper planning, anyway? By being able to read your data with a convenient big data tool, you’re improving your chances to make the right business choices that grow your earnings. Often times, it’s not the data itself that makes the difference in how you approach tough decisions, but rather how it’s presented.

With the help of today’s technology, ERP systems and business intelligence tools alike are presenting your company data in ways that are easy to visualize and digest. By using these tools more often, businesses can expect easier, more efficient forecasting with the ability to properly analyze the recent months of transactions.

Cloud Capability

As you may already be aware, data storage in the cloud is becoming increasingly popular due to how easy it is to use. By being able to connect to your information from any device with internet access to reducing your need to have a physical storage room for your many clients, cloud technology has really taken off as an inevitable trend for the future.

In fact, for the next three years, public cloud usage is predicted to grow 44% whereas the usage of on-premise computing workloads is expected to only grow 8.9%.

Plus, the number of data analytic tools in the cloud are on the rise. With major names like Amazon entering the market, it’s only a matter of time before more big names offer widely-accessible tools to store your information.

So with the future of this wireless technology looking promising and its perks being inevitable for small and medium-sized businesses, it can be expected that this type of data storage is here to stay for the longterm.

IoT (Internet of Things)

The progression of business and personal technology has brought us, as a society, to the IoT — the Internet of Things. This concept is practically the symbiotic relationship between all devices from your computers to the tools your IT team uses to your POS system.

The relationship they all have with one another is something that we can expect to be enhanced in the near future. It’s being done already. For instance, If you have a computer that can wirelessly send a message to your printer, then this, on a small scale, is what we can expect among more devices.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a quickly growing trend that's sychronizes many technologies to simplify business operations.What’s the benefit? The rise of IoT can lead to less human interaction with the devices we use in the workplace. From ordering and restocking your storage room when inventory gets low to changing business practices once sales slow down, the Internet of Things allows the technology around you to run on auto-pilot while you can focus on running your business and managing more difficult tasks.

While new trends come to light and become popular in the business world, running your company will eventually become easier and require less work done physically in the office.

As one of the premier business intelligence providers, our team takes pride in helping executives achieve their data collection, analysis and visualization goals — no matter their current technology. For more on how we can improve your big data goals, contact one of our representatives today!

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What Is ERP?

Posted on April 9, 2015 by - Big Data, Blog, cloud BI, Ross

If you’re now considering acquiring an ERP solution to implement into your current business structure, you’re in for a treat. It’s likely that you find your accounting, inventory control or product planning figures to be in disarray and you need a simple solution to have it all in one convenient place. With today’s landscape of business intelligence options, there’s many innovative software on the market to help you simplify the way you collect your big data.

At Business Impact, we understand the importance of having the proper data collection strategy and how crucial it is to your company’s operations. With that said, we’d like to break down the basics of the software that is enterprise resource planning — or more commonly known as ERP.

Enterprise Resource Planning is a helpful data collection tool that makes it easier for your business to make sound business decisions.

What Is ERP?

ERP is essentially the gathering of back-office information using a business process management software. Data collection for ERP is brought to the user via modules that focus on several business figures. They likely cater to important company features like product purchasing, product planning, distribution, accounting, marketing, human resources, finance and inventory. More specifically, an EPM (enterprise performance management) would focus on tracking your budget’s purpose and execution.

Why Is ERP Essential?

How many times have you had to crunch end-of-the-quarter numbers and have had a tough time sorting out your numbers on an Excel spreadsheet? Perhaps you have all the information you need to make forward-thinking business decisions, but all of the data is hard to assemble in one format. Here lies the beauty of having an ERP software.

In addition to saving you crucial company time from going back and forth between documents, web browser tabs or computer programs, an ERP solution gives you the ability to analyze your data with all of it right in front of you. As you designate which ERP modules you’d like to focus on, you’ll now have the ability to improve your company’s data flow with streamlined business intelligence.

Furthermore, most ERP software systems utilize the best practices feature which shows the user potential plans of actions using the information it has collected. Implementing the right ERP solution serves to benefit everyone involved: decision makers, employees in the field, consumers and business partners.

Gain complete integration across
From front-end to back-end processes to forecasts to production, you should have real-time statistics that cater to each quantitative area of business.

Enhance productivity with automation
Eliminate the need to balance your data with a software that organizes and displays the figures for you.

Increase company performance
Optimize your decision-making and keep your staff up-to-date with the latest information to ensure well-informed company operations.

Create quality reports & performance analysis
Rather than taking company time out to map out the latest quarter’s earnings, simply use your ERP software to extract the data. Plus, the use of your graphs and charts will make it easier for you to review a team or individual’s performance.

Simplifying your big data into readable charts and graphs will save your team ample amounts of time spent on analyzing statistics.

What Business Impact Can Do with Your ERP

Here at Business Impact, our team can revolutionize your data collection strategy no matter what software your company currently uses. As specialists in the Ross ERP system (now Aptean), we’re able to build additional BI solutions to be used within the software application.

After all, we understand the importance of being able to analyze your data without having to ask your IT staff for assistance. As our focus is on helping companies achieve simple, accurate and up-to-date information, we stop at nothing to ensure your ERP and BI solution provides the data you need to make solid business decisions.

As you prepare to choose which ERP solution you’d like to use, there are a few kind that are available on the market today. From large enterprise to mid-market to small business to mobile-friendly to cloud-based to two-tier ERPs, there are options out there to suit your exact need. Contact one of our representatives TODAY to discuss which one is right for your business.

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