Why Enterprises Cannot Ignore the Rise of Snowflake

In a world all about data, having easy access to it is key. It's what lets decision-makers dive into the nitty-gritty and make smart business decisions. The catch? Even as more and more companies join the bandwagon, roadblocks like data silos, privacy worries, and storage headaches still stand in the way of leveraging every bit of potential out of that valuable information.

What enterprises urgently need is a unified platform that is cost-efficient, scalable, and capable of storing and processing large data sets. That’s where a platform like Snowflake comes to the rescue. 

Snowflake, a cloud-based data platform, allows enterprises to store, process, and analyze all data types. It saves the enterprise from the hassle of managing multiple data warehouses by storing and processing their data through a unified platform. It allows authorized users across different locations to access data on the cloud for informed decision-making. The fact that the customer base of the Snowflake platform has grown 25% this year compared to last year indicates that enterprises cannot ignore its rise and the benefits it offers. 

Let’s look at how the snowflake ecosystem can benefit your enterprise, how you can use it, and what you can do to implement it.

Benefits of Using Snowflake

Here are a few benefits of collaborating with a Snowflake partners to get the most out of Snowflake.

Eliminates Data Silos
More enterprises are all over the map these days trying to engage with customers. Gathering and storing data has become a massive challenge. Companies end up with bits and bobs of information that don't quite add up to a complete picture. No 360-degree view, no clear analysis, and uninformed decision-making. They don’t get a 360-degree data view to analyze and make decisions. 

Snowflake has a unique architecture that allows enterprises to seamlessly link their businesses and mobilize data across the globe. It eliminates data silos and centralizes data, making it easy for enterprises to integrate, analyze, and access all their data in one place. You can securely bring in third-party data and services without the hassle of moving or copying your precious information. With Snowflake, enterprises can harness the full power of their data worry-free, leaving data management and maintenance in the rearview mirror.

Transparent Billing
Enterprises don’t have to worry about opaque billing or hidden costs anymore. No more paying for over-provisioned or wasting resources in the shadows either. Snowflake’s clear-cut and transparent pricing and billing spells out exactly what you’re paying for. Snowflake bills based on per-second usage. That means you're only paying for the time you're using the platform, with no extra charges for idle moments. It's pricing that puts you in the driver's seat, giving you control and clarity.

Enterprises can take the reins on tracking and allocating costs across various departments and business units using Snowflake’s metering capabilities. With this feature in tow, businesses gain a whole new level of control, ensuring that resources are distributed efficiently, and expenses are accounted for with precision.

Scales Resources with a Multi-Cluster Warehouse
With the holiday season around the corner, enterprises need to gear up for the peak workloads that come with it and then scale down when the season ends. Snowflake’s multi-cluster warehouse can help enterprises address this issue. The multi-cluster warehouse allows enterprises to compute resources to meet their users’ changing needs. It distributes complex queries across multiple queries, thus saving processing power and improving performance. 

Enterprises can also add or remove clusters as per the workload. This helps them scale the business efficiently and save costs by avoiding over-provisioning resources.

Enhances Data Security
As more enterprises use digital technologies, data security has become crucial. Enterprises have to address vulnerabilities surrounding data and exercise caution while sharing it with internal and external users.

Snowflake allows enterprises to share read-only database tables, views, and user-defined functions with other users. All data is encrypted, regardless of its state. It also provides access only to authorized users. Enterprises can determine the level of access to be provided. This helps them improve security and prevent data leaks. They can also audit and track who is assessing the data and how they are using it to prevent data misuse.

Promotes Innovation
Enterprises can build innovative solutions using Snowflake’s features and architecture. For example, Snowflake’s Unistore workload combines transactional and analytical data to create new types of applications. Enterprises can also build connected apps by keeping the code and data separate. 

Besides that, Snowflake has announced that it will invest in artificial intelligence (AI) to help data scientists build and deploy AI models, generate more queries efficiently, identify and eliminate wasted resources, and improve the app’s performance through enhanced resource allocation. 

Use Cases for Snowflake

Snowflake helps financial institutions overcome data and technology silos in the highly regulated and competitive financial services landscape. It also helps them scale their business across various business functions and offices while maintaining a unified data source. It supports critical workflows ranging from quantitative research to regulatory compliance and prioritizes security and governance, ensuring robust protection and strong access controls across multiple clouds.

Retail
Snowflake helps retailers enhance personalization in both digital and in-person engagements by breaking down data silos and providing a 360-degree view of customer data. Retailers can leverage this data to understand customer needs and design personalized marketing campaigns. Snowflake also optimizes supply chain operations by improving demand forecasting and providing insights into inventory. 

Manufacturing
Snowflake allows secure data collaboration with partners, suppliers, and customers and offers greater visibility across the entire value chain. It facilitates smart manufacturing by streamlining operations and utilizing real-time shop floor data for predictive maintenance, cycle time analysis, improved product quality, and meeting sustainability goals. 

Telecom
Snowflake offers a comprehensive and secure platform for telecom companies to modernize their operations by efficiently managing data. Features like multi-cloud data consolidation, unified governance, and adaptable performance across various clouds, regions, and workloads empower telecom companies to enforce data policies consistently and reduce operational costs. 

The platform fosters collaboration among multiple teams, such as IT, network engineering, and data science, to make data-driven decisions, respond to customer needs, and launch new services. It also aids in managing energy consumption and sustainability efforts, aligning with environmental regulations.

How Can Enterprises Use Snowflake to Grow Business?

Snowflake offers an array of benefits to enterprises across various industries. It continues to innovate by introducing new features like enabling customers to bring generative AI to their data and building apps at scale. However, there are a few challenges that enterprises could face while using Snowflake. These could include anything from SQL limitations to bulk load issues. 

To ensure smooth implementation, enterprises must get Snowflake consulting and work with an expert technology partner like Xoriant. As a Snowflake partner, our team of experts builds best-in-class analytics environments with extraordinary scope, performance, and elasticity that help enterprises gain real-time insights and make quick decisions. 

We recently achieved the Snowflake Select status that gives us a leading edge in the league of 350 SELECT global partners. 

Looking to implement Snowflake and your data investments using Snowflake?

Speak with Xoriant Snowflake Expert