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All business functions whether it is finance, marketing, procurement, or others find using data and analytics to drive success an imperative for today. They want to make informed decisions and be able to predict trends that are based on trusted data and insights from the business, operations, and customers.

The criticality of delivering these capabilities was emphasised in a recent report, “The Importance of Unified Data and Analytics, Why and How Preintegrated Data and Analytics Solutions...,” from Forrester Consulting. For approximately two-thirds of the global data warehouse and analytics strategy decision-makers surveyed in the research, their key data and analytics priorities are:

  • Creating a data innovation capability

  • Establishing and improving the use of automation technologies

  • Integrating data and analytics platforms


The Forrester report also found that platform integration and a lack of related tools were key challenges in regard to data warehouse and data analytics platforms. In fact, 51% of the respondents reported that their firms were spending too much time on integration initiatives.

With these priorities and challenges in mind, it’s not surprising that the report states: “Organisations are now looking to pre-integrated solutions – data and analytics platforms with integrated or shared data models and schemas, metadata, and security – that will help streamline their platforms and provide a multitude of strategic and technological benefits.”

Evaluating data and analytics solutions can be challenging

Finding a solution that can unleash the power of a unified, integrated data and analytics approach can be a complex task, especially when it comes to the early stages of product evaluations and proofs of concept.

You may end up needing several solutions to deliver what your users require because many don’t provide a combined data and analytics approach. For instance, many do not have the capabilities to competently integrate data that is stored in a wide array of disparate on-premise and cloud systems. Or you’re looking at data analytics solutions that will not empower business users, leave them relying on heavily stretched IT resources to build data models and enable data access. This limits the power of using real-time data for in-the-moment insights and decision-making.

So, what’s the best avenue for evaluating a solution like a unified data and analytics platform? Analysts that I have spoken to highly recommend a proof of concept (POC) as part of a robust evaluation process, which is a viable step. However, a POC may require a significant investment both in time and budget, so it’s a step that many companies will not take. That’s why free value calculator for companies needing some guidance in determining the criteria to fairly evaluate and compare their various options for a robust unified data and analytics solution. The calculator can be used as a framework for a POC that you can use for evaluating solutions.


 

Taking a value-based versus cost-based approach

It’s not uncommon for companies to select a variety of solutions based on cost alone, but that can overlook the most important aspect of an enterprise solution like this, which is its value. Moreover two solutions might not be like to like in terms of capabilities that are packaged.

Based on SAP customer data, benchmarks, and other research, this value calculator illustrates the potential economic impact that you can create for your organisation with SAP Data Warehouse Cloud solution. It provides insights into the true value of the key fundamental building blocks of a highly functional unified data and analytics solution.

Using your own metrics and criteria for your data and analytics requirements, the calculator provides you with the ability to see the economic and business value of the following three drivers in either a one-year or three-year summary.

  1. Connect data with business context. One of the biggest challenges for IT teams is always around the significant amount of time spent on data preparation and integration. The calculator shows you how data virtualisation and real-time data can result in significant monetary gains and profitability improvements as IT productivity increases. As an example, SAP Data Warehouse Cloud provides you with native understanding of SAP, which reduces hours of correlating data from many database tables.

  2. Unlock data insights with integrity. SAP Data Warehouse Cloud empowers users to connect their own data – no matter what the source – share it securely and run analytics in a governed environment. The calculator highlights the financial impact of productivity gains with empowering business users and the cost savings from a reduced dependency on skilled IT resources for support.

  3. Accelerated outcomes without complexity. A pre-integrated data and analytics solution and business content once again frees up with more IT resources with an efficient deployment.


Here’s what a unified data and analytics solution can deliver

SAP Data Warehouse Cloud builds a bridge between enterprise IT and business users, empowering them to take advantage of your organisation’s biggest asset – its data – in one simple, integrated solution. Once you use the value calculator, you’ll see how it can drive benefits like these:

  • For enterprise IT, this data-warehouse-as-a-service solution delivers a single source of truth that is accessible to everyone with self-service capabilities, freeing IT to focus on governing data and preserving data integrity. The solution provides pre-integrated, enterprise-grade cloud services for database, data integration, analytics, and business users.

  • Business users can work on their own to understand and connect data, transform it into insights, and share the results of their analysis instantly – without delays, manual processes, or data duplication. With access to the data behind the analytics, they can work in dedicated virtual spaces using prebuilt business content, a business catalog, and no-code modeling tools.


Start your value calculation now

View and try the value calculator – simply start by selecting the metrics that fit your company’s needs. Each step of the way, you’ll get a glimpse into the value you can achieve from a unified data and analytics solution. If you have any questions on the calculator, please feel free to comment below.