Data Lakes: A leading way to manage data
“There are a quintillion bytes of data generated each minute, and the forecast is that our data will keep growing at an unprecedented rate.” - Data Never Sleeps
Finding storage solutions for the volumes of data being generated is of the utmost importance. Fortunately, over the last decade, data storage has become cheaper, faster, and more easily available. When it comes to managing this data, data professionals can consider using a data lake as a data repository. Let’s explore…
What is a data lake?
According to Forbes, “a data lake holds data in an unstructured way and there is no hierarchy or organization among the individual pieces of data...it is not processed or analyzed. Additionally, a data lake accepts and retains data from all data sources, supports all data types...and schemas are applied only when the data is ready to be used.”
Why is a data lake important?
Organizations that successfully generate business value from their data, will outperform their competitors. An Aberdeen survey saw organizations that implemented a data lake outperforming similar companies by 9% in organic revenue growth. This is because these leaders were able to perform new types of analytics like machine learning.
A similar article featured by AWS says “a data lake helped them to identify, and act upon opportunities for business growth faster by attracting and retaining customers, boosting productivity, proactively maintaining devices, and making informed decisions”.
The value for accountants
In one word - quality.
To ensure the quality of the continuously expanding data, here are some tactics CPA Canada recommends for CPAs. Each of the tactics listed below can be supported with a data lake:
- Establish clear metrics and targets for data quality.
- Establish consistent and clearly documented procedures for data input, storage, extraction, and analytics.
- Perform regular data quality audits.
At Caseware...
We leverage data lakes and other technologies to ensure your data is optimally stored and managed. Learn more about Caseware Cloud Security.
