5 Benefits of Collaborating with a Big Data Consulting Company

In this post, you will discover the top challenges businesses face in adopting big data and how they can be solved with the help of big data consulting services. 

Why Do Businesses Apply for Big Data Consulting Services?

Companies of different scales are actively working towards implementing big data analytics. Banking and financial sector is the top industry in the big data analytics market, followed by automotive and Telecom/Media industries.

Global Big Data Analytics Market Share by Vertical

Source

Big data involves collecting large volumes of information from numerous sources and platforms. Information can be disparate, low quality, and in most cases, require in-depth knowledge and sufficient intellectual and material resources for its systematization, analysis, storing, and updating. Despite all this, the companies still want to benefit from accurate data-driven decision-making, better customer insights, real-time anomaly detection, and other big data benefits.

If you decide to implement the big data using your in-house resources solely, consider the following potential complexities:

• Insufficient expertise: you will require a team of professional data engineers, data scientists, and data analysts. As the big data product market is constantly growing, you should allocate additional resources to ensure your in-house team possesses up-to-date knowledge in implementing and maintaining extensive data tools.
• Lack of coordination: as with any other innovation in the company's IT system, big data tools should help you reach specific business goals. Without understanding the core purpose and the desired result, it is impossible to choose the proper tools and build a data analytics system that will perform effectively. Often, enterprises that have data scientists in-house apply for big data consulting services to obtain that strategic view and define the project scope for implementation.
• Lack of data assets visibility: the unsystematic approach to data management makes it difficult to understand what data is available at the organizational level. As a result, even after implementing highly efficient big data analytics tools, the company risks getting wrong insights by feeding the system junk information.
• Data integrity and security: big data implies numerous security challenges, including granular access control, privacy-preserving data mining and analytics, secure data storage, real-time security monitoring, and many others.
• Costs to handle big data: in-house big data management requires companies to spend money on new hardware and software and recruit a plethora of supporting specialists. Development and maintenance of the newly created analytics systems also suggest significant funding.

Partnering with a big data consulting company will let you tackle such challenges tapping into the third party vendor’s technology expertise, ability to integrate new tech stack with legacy data processing systems. You will also get access to numerous resource pools for such projects, saving businesses from the hassle of looking for and hiring new staff. Research and Markets reports that the data analytics outsourcing market is going to grow from $3.49 billion in 2021 to $6.61 billion in 2027, at a CAGR of 11.24%.

Benefits You Get from Collaborating with a Big Data Consulting Company

When a company decides to improve its data analytics workflow with big data capabilities, it makes sense to consider different options for implementing the upgrade. Requesting big data consulting services and outsourcing analytics from a qualified service provider has significant advantages over managing the same work scope internally. Below we list the key benefits of collaboration with big data consulting companies.

Faster Turnaround time

Such companies have domain experts and practical experience in applying big data to analytics in different industries, which helps design and implement custom solutions faster than doing everything in-house. Ready-made solutions and properly set up processes for their implementation and staff onboarding significantly save time to accomplish big data integration.

Reduced Costs

For internal implementation, you will need to hire a team of big data scientists, engineers, analysts, software developers, purchase the necessary tools and equipment, etc. Managing such a project internally might lead either to success or become a nightmare if anything goes wrong. The cost of purchasing a service from a vendor or hiring a team of developers from nearshore or offshore locations may be significantly less. Considering that a specialized provider will manage the project faster, you can substantially reduce the overall project budget.

Focusing on Core Business Processes

As a critical part of many businesses' workflow, data analytics requires investing significant resources and effort. If you delegate the big data analytics needs to a dedicated provider, your in-house team can focus on core processes and manage business more effectively.

Improved Flexibility

Outsourcing your big data efforts gives flexibility in scaling the project up and down depending on the changes in the company's needs. There is no need to recruit or fire in-house specialists to maintain the changing scale. The hired big data consulting company also helps implement solutions geared towards the growing amount of data or the need to replicate the same analytics workflow in new business units.

Access to Domain Expertise

In 2022, big data analysts were projected to be the most in-demand talent, according to The Economic Times. Considering that 96% of companies are definitely planning or likely to plan to hire ones, it may be challenging to recruit the talent resources for implementing big data analytics considering the competition. Collaboration with big data consulting providers gives access to a broad pool of domain experts and helps manage an acute talent shortage in the field.

Even big enterprises, having enough resources to implement big data in-house, apply for big data consulting services to obtain the necessary knowledge and get expert assistance at the initial stages of implementation. Small-to-medium businesses can establish comprehensive, scalable analytics frameworks that are usually resource-demanding and time-consuming to implement independently. Therefore, big data consulting outsourcing works for businesses of any scale.

All these benefits become available if you choose a reliable and qualified big data consulting company for collaboration. What factors should you consider when selecting a worthy big data consultant?

How to Choose a Big Data Consulting Company?

The big data consulting market is on the rise, offering services in different price segments. You can apply for assistance from the major players on the market or consider smaller companies with more flexible outsourcing models and narrower specialization that fits your industry, business goals, and budget.

Before shortlisting potential big data consulting companies for collaboration, it makes sense to clearly specify the goals and requirements for the future data analytics upgrade. Identify specific business problems you want to solve and set the goals, i.e., the results you would like to achieve with the implemented solution. Big data helps businesses earn more in multiple ways. The better your organization identifies the current state with all its challenges and the expected state with the goals and desired results, the easier it will be to choose a contractor that matches all these conditions. 

After you specify your needs and goals, it is time to shortlist potential big data consulting companies. Here are the critical decision-making criteria to consider.

Expertise

A qualified big data consulting company should be able to demonstrate its knowledge and practical experience. At Infopulse, big data analytics is provided under the Data Lake & Big Data services, with all the team's expertise identified. Aim at hiring a team providing the highest level of service. Evaluate potential candidates expertise in two directions:

• Industry expertise: ask for information about years of experience, the number of completed projects, their types, and technologies used. In addition, the big data outsourcing partner should be accredited in all related areas, such as data security, project management, quality control, etc. Request information about the number of big data engineers, analysts, and other relevant specialists, available certifications for the company, and individual experts.
• Technical expertise: ask the candidates for the methodology used to handle projects like yours. The team should clearly explain how they run a project, ensure the quality of the results, and process various issues.

Awards, participation in different industry summits, expert talks, and other events also speak for the level of the company’s expertise.

Portfolio

While any team can promote its services by appealing service descriptions, only the ones that show real practical experience are worth considering. Always look at the vendor's portfolio first. Check their case studies and live clients' references. Focus on the providers with past projects in your industry and experience in implementing solutions that match your needs. Evaluate the project scope, the choice of technologies and development approach, and the business outcomes of the provided solution.

Case in point: Infopulse worked on accelerating decision-making processes for a global audit company. As a result of the implemented solution, the time for generating analytical reports has been reduced from 15 hours to 10 minutes. The business users got 90x times faster in decision-making. It is a tangible result that matches the initial client's purpose. With another project for an international mining and metals company, the Infopulse team performed data center migration to Microsoft Azure. Such transformation significantly improved the scalability, reliability, security, and performance of the corporate data system. At the same time, it reduced the TCO of IT infrastructure.

Case study

90x Faster Reporting for One of Big Four

Explore details

Reputation and reliability

Evaluate the history of your potential candidates for big data consulting:

• How long has the company been on the market?
• Does this service provider have partnerships with the leading data analytics market players?
• What do past clients think about collaboration with those companies?
• Does the company adhere to the latest security standards and certificates?

Companies with a sterling reputation will have all this information available. 

When applying for services that deal directly with sensitive information, choose a partner with an established security policy. As for Infopulse, we have obtained four quality and security certifications (ISO 9001, ISO 27001, ISO 14001, and ISAE 3402) to ensure the safety of collaboration and complete data protection.

Collaboration comfort

Opt for big data consulting service providers you are comfortable communicating with. The ability to respond quickly, working in the same or relatively close time zones, the team speaking your native language or English, if it's applicable for your team - all these aspects are important for lucrative cooperation. Make sure the chosen provider shares your values, preferences, and fits you in its working style.

Key Takeaways

Big data analytics implementation comes with its cherished gains for modern companies – accurate data insights, faster decision-making, automated reporting, robust fraud detection, and the market expansion. Companies are eager to upgrade their legacy data analytics, yet face numerous challenges in implementing the efficient, secure, and scalable big data analytics system.

Collaboration with a big data consulting company can help you deal with most of these challenges, which include the shortage of relevant talent on the labor market, costly pricing for the field experts, and lack of companies’ awareness of how their system works and should be transformed.

At Infopulse, we have 15+ years of successful experience upgrading data analytics for enterprises in banking and finances, data security, manufacturing, agriculture, and many other industries. We have a comprehensive set of intelligent business services, including Data Lake & Big Data services, helping our clients benefit from the newest technologies.