How Cloud-Native Analytics Powers Data Culture

Creating a data-driven culture is an absolute necessity for the modern business leader. Organizations that have a data-driven culture are more likely to lead by example and set market trends rather than simply follow the crowd. However, what is often overlooked is the role that data analytics plays in facilitating this data-driven culture.

Simply put, data analytics is the backbone of data culture. Data analytics forms a vital part of any organization, and as such, a business cannot possibly hope to establish a data-driven culture without it.

As with the wide majority of software we use in our professional and personal lives, data analytics initially began offline before transitioning onto a Cloud-based solution that it commonly is today. 

Throughout this post, we will outline what Cloud-native analytics and data-driven culture are and highlight some of their key benefits. Lastly, we will also explain how using a Cloud-native analytics service can help to power a data-driven culture.

What is Cloud-native analytics? 

The term ‘Cloud-native analytics’ refers to a data analytics platform that operates entirely in the Cloud. While Cloud computing has existed for several years, Cloud native is a fairly new type of software development that expands on the basic concept of Cloud computing. As the name suggests, ‘Cloud-native’ refers to a platform or service that is native to the Cloud and does not exist outside of an online space. Astrato is one such example of a Cloud-native analytics service.

Existing solely on the Cloud, Astrato is a ground-breaking, user-friendly data analytics platform that delivers live data to analysts, enabling them to make fast, effective, and accurate analyses in real-time.

What are the benefits of Cloud-native analytics?

Cloud-native analytics has several benefits for the modern data team, but perhaps the biggest advantage that a Cloud-native analytics solution has over a traditional data analytics platform is its cost-effectiveness.

Unlike a traditional analytics platform located on individual computers throughout an organization, a Cloud-native solution operates entirely online and is managed by the data analytics provider. As such, if there are any updates required or bugs with the platform, this is the responsibility of the Cloud analytics provider. With Cloud-native analytics, there is no need to have a costly IT infrastructure set up to get the software up and running, and no need to maintain servers within your organization as well.

Due to their online nature, Cloud-native analytics services are accessible anytime, anywhere, allowing your data teams and other departments the ability to see your data wherever life takes them. 

Furthermore, in the event that you wish to expand your data team or find your company collecting far more data than you had anticipated, Cloud-native analytics services are easily scalable to manage the additional load. By using the power of the Cloud, your business can scale in a cost-effective manner that works for you.

The final benefit of Cloud-native analytics is that they utilize real-time data to provide you with more accurate insights than traditional platforms. Cloud-native analytics allows analysts to spot market trends as they unfold rather than waiting multiple weeks or months to see what is trending. Cloud-native platforms, therefore, give you access to real-time data to help you react to the market and deliver more timely decisions that are informed by real-time data that is always up-to-date.

Certain platforms, such as Astrato, even go one step further, offering you the ability to query and edit live data on the fly. Known as ‘writeback,’ this industry-leading feature enables analysts to amend and update live data directly from their dashboard, thus saving precious time and resources.

What is a data-driven culture? 

A data culture is a form of organizational culture in which data significantly influences the decision-making process. Within a data-cultured business, there are a collective set of behaviors and beliefs that see the organization utilizing data to make decisions rather than relying simply on the instincts of the person who is paid the most.

To have a data-driven culture then means that the majority of your major decisions as a business come from using data to explain your convictions. While this method might seem impersonal and perhaps even less democratic than a consensus culture, data cultures can help cut through bias (providing the data is also made without bias) and identify logical solutions that are right for the business. 

What are the benefits of a data-driven culture?

When used correctly, a data-driven culture has several benefits that can dramatically improve the way business is done throughout your organization. 

Providing the data has been critiqued and is made/collected without bias, data can be used to help resolve potentially divisive decisions that could fracture the organization. Decisions that use data to prove their reasoning are less likely to bring forth scorn, resentment, or dissatisfaction among employees as long as the data is correct.

For example, if your business needs to make redundancies, a business with a data-driven culture will look at a number of factors to determine who should and shouldn’t be let go from the business. Meanwhile, in a hierarchy culture, the person(s) made redundant often has little to no relationship with the decision-makers in the business and is therefore seen as more disposable than an employee who is friends with senior management. 

This type of favoritism can prove detrimental and sometimes even terminal to businesses, as often, those who use this method will favor employees who they have a supposedly “great relationship” with, even if they are one of the worst performers within the company. Therefore, data-driven cultures will ignore favoritism and instead rely on the facts presented to them through data.

One of the other major benefits of having a data-driven culture is that there is a high level of digital literacy among staff members in a data culture. 

Digital literacy has several virtues, but perhaps the most important aspect of data literacy is that it can help break down departmental silos that naturally build up over time. Data-driven cultures are naturally full of data-literate members, meaning there is an organic data-sharing culture throughout the organization.

Take a look at our content on turning data literacy into a data-driven culture to learn more about the role data literacy plays in creating a data culture within an organization.

How to use Cloud-native analytics to enjoy the benefits of a data-driven culture 

Cloud-native analytics helps power data-driven teams by providing them with the information they need to help their company make smarter and more data-driven decisions. Unlike a traditional analytics platform which relies on older data to provide historical evidence, Cloud-native analytics uses real-time data, giving analysts the ability to see more timely and relevant data. 

In addition to the use of real-time insights, Cloud-native analytics can help data analysts to deliver their findings faster than a traditional analytics solution would. When using a traditional method, the analysis is only as fast as your company’s computers and servers will allow. Using a Cloud-native platform, therefore, allows you to utilize the power of industry-leading servers to crunch the numbers and perform data calculations and analysis at much faster speeds than is typically possible with a local/offline data analytics solution.

One of the main ways that Cloud-native analytics powers a data-driven culture is through the promotion of data sharing. As highlighted above, promoting a data-sharing ethos within your organization is a key component of a data-driven culture. However, by using a Cloud-based solution that isn’t tied to a particular machine, your data teams can quickly create guest and additional accounts, allowing them to effortlessly share their data and analysis with other departments, even if they’re located in other cities or overseas.

Sharing data with other departments can also help to reduce uncertainty and increase the transparency between different silos of the business. As such, Cloud-native analytics is an indispensable asset for enabling and enjoying the benefits of a data-driven culture.

A Cloud-native data analytics solution for the data-driven business 

Behind every successful data-driven company is the analysis software that makes it all possible. As demonstrated above, a Cloud-native data analytics platform can help foster a data-sharing mentality and reduce the barrier of entry associated with data analysis. 

While using a Cloud-native data analytics solution cannot automatically create a data culture by itself, Astrato’s intuitive and user-friendly Cloud-native data analytics platform can help your organization to realize its ambitions of being considered a data leader and pioneer in your field.

So what are you waiting for? Try Astrato today and discover how our industry-leading Cloud-native analytics solution can help your business achieve its goals. Click here to book a demo & learn more.