{"id":15957,"date":"2017-01-26T18:37:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-27T02:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/devwww.3cloudsolutions.com\/post\/getting-started-with-data-and-analytics-in-the-cloud-2\/"},"modified":"2023-12-22T14:20:33","modified_gmt":"2023-12-22T22:20:33","slug":"getting-started-with-data-and-analytics-in-the-cloud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/3cloudsolutions.com\/resources\/getting-started-with-data-and-analytics-in-the-cloud\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting Started with Data and Analytics in the Cloud"},"content":{"rendered":"

As my colleague\u00a0David Eldersveld pointed out in a recent blog post<\/a>, doing data in the cloud can seem daunting. \u00a0There’s a growing list of cloud providers to compare from, and each has their own set of tools, services, and even lingo. \u00a0There are\u00a0also all-new concepts\u00a0to learn, like infrastructure-as-a-service<\/em> and platform-as-a-service<\/em>. \u00a0So much to learn and evaluate, and so little time to do so (because if you aren’t in the cloud, your competitor is… right?)\u00a0\u00a0I’d like to share some advice that I give every client who is thinking about taking on a cloud data and analytics initiative (and even some who aren’t thinking about it yet, but should be), so that they can navigate the hype\u00a0and challenges\u00a0of the cloud\u00a0and have a greater chance of success and adoption.<\/p>\n

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\"iStock-539810882edited.png\"<\/p>\n

Think Big, Start Small<\/h2>\n

We see clients have the most success and best adoption with a cloud data endeavor\u00a0when they think big, but start small. \u00a0I usually refer to it as “tip-toeing” into the cloud. \u00a0This generally means to approach the cloud data landscape with big ideas about how and where it can benefit your organization, but to also carve out one or two smaller, manageable, very specific use cases to get started. \u00a0It’s very difficult to succeed if you are trying\u00a0to boil the whole ocean or lift-and-shift your entire infrastructure and processes into the cloud all at once. \u00a0Below are just a few of the advantages for thinking big, but starting small with your cloud data initiative.<\/p>\n

Faster Time-to-Market<\/h3>\n

One of the general promises of the cloud is that less infrastructure procurement, server configuration, and software configuration should yield faster time-to-market. \u00a0When operating in a platform-as-a-service model, you can often be up and running with a Hadoop cluster\u00a0or a SQL database in just minutes. \u00a0Pair that with a manageable (but meaningful!) use case where you are only standing up the services necessary for the use case, and you can likely be up and running with a viable solution in just a couple of weeks (not months).<\/p>\n

Lower Risk<\/h3>\n

Starting with a smaller use case also helps to mitigate risk. \u00a0In most cases, you only pay for the cloud resources that you use, which means no hardware or software license commitments up front. \u00a0If you spend a few weeks building something in the cloud and you decide you don’t like it, you can just tear it down. \u00a0In this case, you only incur costs for services during the few weeks you were developing. \u00a0This is drastically different from buying and provisioning physical hardware and a big expensive license only to find a few weeks into it that the platform was not right your organization.<\/p>\n

Model for Greater Adoption<\/h3>\n

Driving interest and adoption for a project or initiative that seems to be taking months and months to implement can be difficult. \u00a0People begin to lose excitement and even question the value of the initiative. However, a project that shows results and value in just a few short weeks gets people excited and wanting to do more. \u00a0This is also true for cloud data and analytics initiatives. \u00a0Building out a smaller, more manageable use case that creates value in just a few weeks can be huge for your bigger cloud strategy. The results of this foundation\u00a0project can be demonstrated to other stakeholders and business areas which will lead to greater buy-in, adoption, and funding for future initiatives.<\/p>\n

Building for Long-term\u00a0Value<\/h3>\n

Finally, starting small doesn’t mean you are abandoning your big-picture ideas and long-term\u00a0vision. \u00a0In fact, it’s quite the opposite. \u00a0When architected appropriately, the smaller project is simply laying the pipes (both architecturally and organizationally) for more data flows and use cases. \u00a0Nothing you build should be throw-away. \u00a0Think about both the cloud services you stand up and the use cases you build out as building blocks that will continue to interact with each other, working towards a bigger, long-term\u00a0cloud data strategy and architecture.<\/p>\n

Let us help<\/h2>\n

If you are interested in starting a cloud data initiative, but you aren’t sure where or how to get things going, let BlueGranite help<\/a>. \u00a0We can work with you to develop that long-term, big-picture cloud data strategy, and help you to focus in on 2 to 3 good use cases to get started. \u00a0Once we define a few candidate use cases, we can help you “quickstart” your cloud initiative with a 2 to 5-week engagement where we will implement one or more use cases and help mentor your team in the best practices necessary to continue to develop effectively in the cloud.<\/p>\n

Doing data in the cloud doesn’t have to be scary. \u00a0Remember to think big, but start small, and you will be more likely to be successful in your cloud data and analytics venture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\\’s a growing list of cloud providers to compare from, and each has their own set of tools. So much to learn and evaluate, and so little time to do so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":14728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[260],"tags":[319],"class_list":["post-15957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-data-ai","tag-machine-learning-ai","topics-blog"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/3cloudsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/3cloudsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/3cloudsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3cloudsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3cloudsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/3cloudsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3cloudsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/3cloudsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3cloudsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3cloudsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}