Five reasons why data and cloud services are made for each other

We’ve discussed why it’s so important to keep hold of and refine your own data. And we’ve looked at cloud computing, and why true cloud-enabled products and services will power the winners of tomorrow. Now let's bring these two concepts together and consider why data and the cloud are made for each other.

1] Consolidate and digitize your data

An important step in unlocking the value in your data is breaking down the data siloes in your organization. This brings all your data into the light – including that essential information locked away in PDFs, on a spreadsheet on someone’s desktop, or even in hard copies of leases stored in filing cabinets. It also allows you to confirm that the data you are looking at is the single source of truth for your organization (Bad things happen when different people work off different data!).

With all the pieces of the puzzle together in one place, in a consistent and standardized way, you can start noticing trends, patterns, opportunities, and alarm bells. You could build this central data library (also known as a data lake, data warehouse, or database) on your own servers, or you could (and should) tap into the power of the cloud to provide you with the underlying infrastructure and services. This is for a range of reasons we discuss in this article, but to start with, it means you don’t have to build the tech infrastructure yourself – after all, your core business is CRE and not database design and administration, right?

2] The cloud makes your data fast

The value of your data is in the insights it produces. In today’s fast-moving business world, the person who achieves the best insights and analysis the fastest wins. If you have located your data in the cloud, you benefit from the massive speed, scale, and advanced capabilities of the public cloud providers and their ecosystems, while only paying for what you need. Another reason not to do it yourself.

3] Gain flexibility and agility with the cloud

With the cloud, you have the flexibility and agility to try new things quickly, easily, cost-effectively, and with low risk. Curious about what advanced technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can make of your data? There is undoubtedly an AI and ML application in your cloud ecosystem that you can trial with your data. And your data is already consolidated and ready to go. This freedom to experiment is where the interesting, and profitable, discoveries are made.

4] Scale, scale, scale

This is probably one of the most compelling reasons to look at cloud services. Because you are essentially “renting” storage and processing power from your cloud provider or SaaS system, you can ramp up or down and only pay for what you need. This means you can start small, experiment, and then grow. You can even ramp up capacity over busy times of the year and then ramp back down again. This is far more cost- and time-effective than guessing what you may need, over-provisioning to be on the safe side, and then paying for something you don’t need, not to mention all the meeting time to figure it out. And then, when it comes time to grow, you can turn on the tap when you need it, without waiting for hardware to be ordered, installed, configured, tested, and finally launched.

5] Collaborate, anytime, anywhere

Do you remember when collaboration meant emailing infinite versions of spreadsheets, losing track of which version was the latest and where it was saved, having someone update an older version and someone else overwrite updated information? And then you notice there is a formula error and someone else has been calculating results elsewhere and just hardcoding in the results. That’s not collaboration, that’s just painful. True collaboration means everyone working with the same, up-to-date information, all the time, in real-time. Whether they are working from the office, the road, or at home, and whether they are using a laptop, tablet, or smartphone to access the information. Data that is centralized in the cloud and quickly and easily accessible through SaaS platforms enables this collaboration.

Data and cloud computing complement each other to such an extent that I’d argue that today it’s impossible to have an effective data strategy without tapping into the power of cloud computing and SaaS services. Which is yet another good reason to seek out true cloud-native SaaS systems which offer the scale, flexibility, and agility, and true collaborative powers of the cloud. It is also important to avoid non-cloud or quasi-cloud services which will likely need to migrate to true cloud technology in the future.

About Rockport VAL

Rockport VAL is the long-awaited market alternative. Rockport VAL provides CRE valuation and discounted cash flows. VAL is user-friendly, affordable, powerful, and connects easily to your tech ecosystem. It’s cloud-native (it was born in the cloud), so truly offers the capabilities the CRE industry needs for the future.

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About Rockport 

Rockport provides a SaaS platform for all facets of the commercial real estate life cycle. Founded by Rick Trepp, founder of Trepp^®, Rockport has been a trusted partner for systems & digital infrastructure to the largest CRE players for the last 20 years.

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