Overview
Today, it’s estimated that 44 zettabytes of data will be created worldwide this year. With data growing so rapidly, it has taken a central role in nearly every business on the planet. See how enterprise data warehouses allow businesses to centralize their growing data and enable cross functional data analysis across multiple users.
Thinking back to a little over a decade ago, it’s clear how quickly the scope and velocity of data has exploded in a short time. Back then, Teradata had recently welcomed five companies into our first-ever Petabyte Club, reserved for customers who ran data warehouses larger than a petabyte. Apple had just unveiled the first iPhone and UberCab, the precursor to Uber, was about to be launched. The scale of data being generated and moving around the world — 1,200 exabytes a year — was unfathomable to many. As one journalist wrote, “this is the first time I’ve ever used the word zettabyte.”
Today, it’s estimated that 44 zettabytes of data will be created worldwide this year. With data growing so rapidly and permeating every aspect and micro-moment of human — and artificial — life, it has taken a central role in nearly every business on the planet. Enterprises have to contend with the challenge of capturing and analyzing data, streaming in from so many diverse sources, every second of every day.
Since the 1960s, the data warehouse has been applied as a powerful tool in the endeavor to glean intelligence. Applied across multiple functions on all relevant data, the enterprise data warehouse (EDW) enables ad-hoc discovery and drill-down analysis by multiple user groups across an organization.
EDWs enable businesses to optimize supply chain management, increase productivity, and gain understanding about customer behavior. One of the earliest examples is Walmart’s EDW, managed by Teradata and the first to reach one terabyte of data in 1992. Walmart has long relied on their EDW to guide suppliers, inform point-of-sales transaction analytics, and more deeply understand customers’ purchasing habits.
Today’s EDW solutions typically involve a combination of environments that address a range of enterprise needs. For example, business users may require access to curated data that’s highly structured and easy to apply to business intelligence applications. The EDW may also incorporate data lakes, which store unstructured data sets that have the potential to be used in business applications but that are not assigned to any particular function.
Why an Enterprise Data Warehouse Matters
By integrating massive amounts of data from diverse sources in ways that are broadly accessible, businesses can:
Share information across functional units
Disparate sources of data gather in one place, reducing data siloes that may exist at an enterprise and ensuring data consistency.
Provide vital business answers quickly and accurately while incorporating multiple viewpoints
Efficiently gain answers to the toughest business questions so decision-makers can make the right strategic choices.
Show a single version of the truth
Allow everyone in an organization to work from the same information to draw conclusions about the state of the business. This level of universal access relieves pressure on IT as more citizen data scientists can add value.
These capabilities give the enterprise the opportunity to profoundly transform its corporate culture. Rather than limiting users’ access to data and stymying innovation, an EDW can make data available securely and in the right formats for users’ needs. This can make analysis fast and agile, ensuring that business users and data scientists alike arrive at answers that matter most to the business.
Teradata’s Perspective on the Enterprise Data Warehouse
For more than four decades, Teradata has been at the forefront of EDW design and development. And today, Teradata continues to innovate in the field as we apply EDW best practices to Teradata Vantage.
Teradata Vantage is the leading hybrid cloud data analytics software that leverages 100% of your data to analyze anything, anywhere, at any time. Combining the power and ingenuity of the EDW with the flexibility and scalability of the cloud, Teradata Vantage is built and priced for industry-leading performance at scale. It’s simple to use and integrate with your current systems, and it provides flexibility and control no matter your needs or what evolving technologies are available.