The data mountain is growing, and companies are struggling to climb it. Cloud data management provides a solution. It allows businesses to use cloud-based technologies and services to ensure their data is accurate, easily accessible, and can be used to make better informed decisions. This approach is becoming essential as companies need ways to handle large amounts of data without compromising on efficiency.
Keep reading to learn more about what cloud data management is and discover how you can transform your organization’s data management strategy.
What Is Cloud Data Management?
Cloud data management refers to the process of collecting, storing, processing, and analyzing high volumes of data across varied cloud services and applications. This is done because companies need a robust system to manage their growing data, while keeping it both secure and accessible.
Cloud Data Management vs. Traditional Data Management
The main difference between cloud-based and traditional data management approaches is in their underlying infrastructure and strategies, which replace centralized silos with decentralized, multicloud architectures. Cloud data management provides several advantages over conventional methods. Here’s a breakdown of how the two differ:
- Scalability: Traditional data management systems are often built with fixed capacities in mind, leading to massive upgrades when scaling up or idle resources when scaling down. In contrast, cloud data management dynamically allocates resources in response to changing demand, providing a more efficient use of resources.
- Cost-Effectiveness: The flexibility of cloud data management leads to a flexible pricing model. With traditional infrastructure, costs are typically locked into upfront investments, fixed agreements, or lengthy contracts, whereas cloud providers offer pay-as-you-go pricing, allowing you to adapt your budget and spending to your evolving needs.
- Accessibility: Legacy data infrastructure presents significant challenges for remote workforces. While VPNs and VPS offer some security measures, inherent limitations at the user end can restrict accessibility and reliability, such as being bound by hardware or OS. In contrast, cloud-based systems are inherently designed for remote operations, providing secure and ubiquitous access to authorized users, using any device, from any location with an internet connection.
- Security and Maintenance: Traditional on-premises data management relies heavily on in-house IT expertise for transformation, maintenance, and periodic security updates. Cloud providers, however, offer a robust alternative. They implement stringent physical and digital security protocols that are continuously updated. Cloud providers are also responsible for any infrastructure upkeep, disaster recovery planning, and software/hardware management, alleviating your internal teams of these burdens.
Use Cases for Cloud Data Management
Cloud data management makes it easier to handle critical business functions such as data backup, recovery, and collaboration across multiple locations. Companies also rely on it for analytics and processing large datasets. Here are a few use cases where cloud-based solutions can benefit your business:
- Cloud Integration: Cloud allows you to unify such data sources as spreadsheets, databases, and on-site servers across different cloud environments, to create a holistic view of your operations.
- Data Governance and Quality: With the cloud, you can define data standards, validate data inputs, and establish processes for data cleansing and reconciliation, so your data is always reliable.
- Privacy and Security: Cloud infrastructures deploy several layers of security to protect information, and they can be configured in compliance with any regulatory standards.
- Master Data Management: Using the cloud, you ensure consistent, accurate, and reliable access to core business data across various cloud-based applications and systems.
- Metadata Management: In cloud data management, Metadata Management includes the organization, storage, retrieval, and governance of information about data. This metadata covers details such as the origin, format, quality, and usage of data. This helps improve how you understand, discover, and govern data. Cloud platforms provide tools and services to manage this metadata effectively.
- AI and Machine Learning: Cloud platforms incorporate AI and machine learning to improve their integration and automation capabilities. Generative AI can be used to simplify the process of building integrations and automations, allowing users to translate natural language requests into actionable processes. Additionally, AI applications can be configured to autonomously perform tasks.
- ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) Processes: A cloud system helps simplify migration and transformation of data between systems to keep the formatting consistent throughout.
The Role of ETL in Cloud Data Management
Cloud ETL is used to handle massive data volumes, by preparing and moving data between different systems and sources.
Here are ways ETL helps cloud data management:
- Data Extraction: ETL Retrieves information from multiple databases and cloud storage, and batch processing them.
- Data Transformation: It supports serverless computing to execute complex transformations using code directly within the ETL pipeline.
- Data Loading: With ETL, you can move transformed data into its final destination, such as a cloud-based data warehouse. It ensures the integrity and consistency of data, by fitting it to the requirements of each target system.
While ETL serves an essential role, its development and maintenance require technical expertise.
Consider exploring integration platform as a service (iPaaS) offerings as an alternative. These solutions deliver ETL’s core functions through simplified visual workflows, eliminating the need for extensive coding.
iPaaS retains ETL benefits like scalability and efficiency while keeping costs down through cloud services.
Top 6 Benefits of Cloud Data Management
Companies can thrive when they collect and act on key data about their customers, products, and operations. Yet, many struggle to share and update this information as their business evolves and team requirements shift. A centralized data hub for cloud data management helps businesses unify their data to avoid such issues. Here are several advantages of the technology:
- Scalability and Cost on Demand: The cloud gives you the ability to easily increase or decrease resources as needed, paying only for the resources you use.
- Anywhere Access: Employees enjoy the flexibility of accessing cloud data from any location and device.
- Enhanced Security: Reputable cloud providers invest heavily in robust security measures, including encryption, access controls, and multifactor authentication, often exceeding the capabilities of many individual organizations.
- Improved Data Governance: Cloud platforms offer tools for data cataloging, classification, and compliance reporting.
- Analytics: Cloud platforms offer robust tools and processing power, allowing you to review larger datasets and perform complex calculations with faster data processing than traditional models.
- Disaster Recovery: Built-in backups and redundancy to ensure business continuity without downtimes.
Implementing Cloud Data Management
Any company that has transitioned to digital has encountered the risks and expenses tied to on-premises infrastructure. Cloud data management is a means for you to retain those benefits. Here is how to implement cloud data management:
Assess Current Data Management System
Analyze your present data management system to pinpoint weaknesses and opportunities for improvement. Survey your data inventory, present technology infrastructure, security measures, and regulatory compliance. This analysis will help you determine which aspects of your system benefit most by migrating to cloud, and it can help manage expectations.
Define Cloud Data Strategy
With insights into your existing procedures, establish objectives for cloud services that align with your business priorities. Decide if a single platform, multiple platforms, or a hybrid model (splitting data between on-site and cloud) best fits your needs.
Select Appropriate Tools and Platforms
Explore cloud-based business intelligence solutions that offer the right tools for your needs. Make sure they work well with your systems and can adapt to any future changes.
Migrate and Integrate Data
Develop a phased data migration plan with clear roles, responsibilities, and key milestones for a secure transition. Implement automated integration and ETL processes between cloud platforms and databases to ensure seamless information synchronization.
Implement Security and Compliance Measures
Implement strong access controls and authentication processes to ensure data is used only as permitted. Encrypt sensitive information both in transit and at rest to prevent unauthorized access. Adhere to relevant legal and industry standards to maintain compliance and protect user trust.
Train Staff and Encourage Adoption
Employees will be provided with detailed training on the new cloud tools to enable them to effectively learn from data. Promote a data-driven culture where informed decision-making is embedded in all roles.
Why Boomi DataHub Is the Ideal Solution for Cloud Data Management
Adopting cloud data management strategies delivers clear advantages for your organization. It improves scalability, reduces costs, enhances accessibility, and strengthens security. You’ll also gain faster insights from your data and improve disaster recovery capabilities.
Boomi DataHub is an AI-ready tool that addresses every data lifecycle stage, including integration, quality control, and governance. It provides an accurate view across your connected cloud and on-premises systems. Here are the key features and benefits of the platform:
- Unified Data View: Boomi DataHub creates one trusted source of truth for consistent information access.
- AI-Ready Data Foundation: The platform ensures trusted, consolidated data empowers AI and analytics initiatives.
- Robust Data Security: Boomi has encryption and access controls to protect sensitive business information.
- Low-Code Modeling: The solution simplifies creation and governance management through an intuitive interface.
- Comprehensive Matching: Boomi DataHub accurately combines and maintains consolidated records.
- Real-Time Synchronization: Ensures immediate visibility and collaboration across locations.
- Built-In Data Quality Tools: The platform automatically enforces validations and enrichments as data flows.
Learn more about how Boomi DataHub can help optimize cloud management with an interactive guided tour.