Why Is Analytics on Cloud Becoming Increasingly Complex for Businesses?

Analytics on Cloud

As more businesses depend on data, adopting cloud-powered analytics is an ongoing boom. Increasingly, businesses are moving away from legacy on-premises tools to cloud-native tools like Snowflake, Amazon RedShift, and Google BigQuery.

According to the latest industry statistics, the global cloud analytics market is expected to reach $65.4 billion by 2025. According to Gartner, global spending on the public cloud will grow to $591.8 billion in 2023 – up from $490.3 billion in 2022.

David Linthicum of InfoWorld says, “2023 could be the year of cloud repatriation.” Yes, cloud analytics offers a host of data-related benefits.

Having said that, cloud adoption has its share of challenges and complexities. There are a growing number of diverse cloud platforms and architectures. Organizations find it challenging to choose the right cloud solution for their business needs.

In this blog, we will talk about the increasing complexity of analytics on the cloud– and how to overcome that. Let’s get started.

5 Challenges of Analytics on the Cloud

Compared to in-house data analytics, cloud analytics demands various architectures, technical skills, and approaches. Here are the five main challenges associated with cloud analytics:

  1. High Costs

    According to this 2020 report, cloud resource waste exceeded $17.6 billion. As organizations move their workloads to the cloud, most struggle to keep their cloud expenditure under control. Moreover, many cloud service providers provide affordable services initially and then escalate their costs for delivering analytics.

    On the plus side, cloud services enable organizations to avoid on-premises infrastructure expenses. However, costs can escalate due to high upfront investments, vendor lock-in, or long-term vendor contracts. Organizations must choose a cloud service provider that does not force lock-ins or escalate their prices in the long run to avoid cost escalation.

  2. Lack of Accessibility

    Data accessibility is a key enabler for successful analytics. Proper access management reduces the risk of cloud misconfiguration, thus avoiding mistakes that can create vulnerabilities. However, data accessibility on the cloud is also crucial for employees to leverage the data for valuable insights and improved decision-making.

    A 2021 study found that only 48.5% of the largest enterprises (across industries) leverage their data to drive innovation. Further, only 24.4% of organizations have implemented a data-centric culture. Organizations need to connect cloud analytics to business insights and results to unlock business value from various data sources.

  3. Security

    Cloud security is a major factor when moving data from private data centres to the cloud platform. Despite major cloud data security advancements, concerns are still related to data protection and external threats.

    Amy O’Connor of Precisely says, “Hopping between cloud accounts and securely storing and exchanging keys becomes a security issue.”

    Data security is critical for data analytics, as it is a major differentiator in a competitive market. Among the concerns is the relative ease with which even remote users can use cloud applications and tools. Organizations need a sound cloud governance policy that centres around proper data usage for efficient security.

  4. Loss of Control

    Anthony Abbattista of Deloitte Consulting says, “One of the key challenges we see clients face is organizational inertia/fear of losing control.” Data analytics is a strategic and valuable business asset for data-driven companies. Before the advent of the cloud, technology leaders had complete control over their data resources. It is no longer the case.

    Brandon Jones of WAEPA believes many organizations are slow to explore the potential of their analytics due to strict processes. Technology teams can implement a cloud-powered sandbox environment (for trial and error) based on essential KPIs from business stakeholders to meet this challenge.

  5. Growing Cloud Complexity

    In a recent survey, 62% of the respondents cited the growing complexity and plethora of cloud platforms as a hindrance to cloud transformation. Similarly, a hybrid cloud environment is a complicated mix of private & public clouds, cloud development environments, and service providers. To add to the complexity, there is an ongoing explosion in data variety, and sources organizations can tap into for analytics.

    With so many cloud providers and architectures, companies find it challenging to select the cloud service provider best suited for their business needs. They need an integrated cloud platform and consistent data to reduce this complexity and leverage analytics on the cloud.

    Next, let’s understand how Ellicium can help organizations overcome these challenges with cloud analytics.

How Ellicium Can Help with Cloud-Based Analytics

At Ellicium, we offer a host of cloud engineering services enabling our customers to leverage the best cloud technologies. We have a skilled team of cloud professionals, including cloud architects, engineers, and administrators, who can help you in your cloud implementation journey.

Here are some of the cloud-related services that we provide to our customers:

  • Designing a cloud journey roadmap that is based on your existing infrastructure and business requirements.
  • Setting up your cloud infrastructure and services based on the roadmap.
  • Building an efficient cloud architecture by combining in-house and cloud resources.
  • Implementing customized cloud solutions using relevant cloud services.
  • Managing and supporting cloud environment post-deployment.

With Ellicium, organizations can overcome the challenges associated with cloud analytics and realize the following benefits:

  • Cost efficiency – leading to a lower total cost of ownership (TCO)
  • Data security on the cloud, along with compliance with industry regulations.
  • Wide access to multiple cloud platforms, including MS Azure, Google Cloud, and AWS.

Conclusion

As organizations benefit by moving their applications and data to the cloud, they are also facing various challenges related to security, complexity, and accessibility. In this environment, the right cloud implementation partner is a “game-changer” for enterprises.

At Ellicium Solutions, we help our customers implement the right cloud transformation strategy to overcome the challenges above.

Are you thinking about moving your analytics to the cloud? Let us help you navigate the complexities. Contact us today.