AWS For Small Businesses
With resource assistance from Amazon’s Thing Big for Small Business Program, there will be much less for a small business to have to worry about. The biggest obstacle still remains to be how to plan and utilize the help AWS has provided. The analysis tools can provide plenty of insight, and users can make the most of the gathered resources through the right services and best practices.
Business Goals and Objectives
Before users can start collecting data and analyzing it, the business owners need to internalize their own objectives and what the business at large is trying to accomplish. Understanding any gathered data points will not contribute or prove beneficial if the users do not understand how that underlying data will impact their business. For example, a business that will want to improve customer relations and satisfaction might have significantly varying objectives compared to a business that wants to minimize costs as much as physically possible. It will be much easier to analyze the proper course of action with clear targets.
The Right Data Source
In regards to the business objectives, this will impact what data sources will prove to be the most useful for achieving those business objectives. Data can be sourced either from company websites, social media, customer relations management systems, and other potential sources of customer interaction. Whatever the data type, AWS offers a variety of data receptacle services, including Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) and Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS). There are different situations where one service will be needed over another, and this will be discussed in greater detail with any expertise AWS provides through this program.
AWS For Small Businesses
With resource assistance from Amazon’s Thing Big for Small Business Program, there will be much less for a small business to have to worry about. The biggest obstacle still remains to be how to plan and utilize the help AWS has provided. The analysis tools can provide plenty of insight, and users can make the most of the gathered resources through the right services and best practices.
Business Goals and Objectives
Before users can start collecting data and analyzing it, the business owners need to internalize their own objectives and what the business at large is trying to accomplish. Understanding any gathered data points will not contribute or prove beneficial if the users do not understand how that underlying data will impact their business. For example, a business that will want to improve customer relations and satisfaction might have significantly varying objectives compared to a business that wants to minimize costs as much as physically possible. It will be much easier to analyze the proper course of action with clear targets.
The Right Data Source
In regards to the business objectives, this will impact what data sources will prove to be the most useful for achieving those business objectives. Data can be sourced either from company websites, social media, customer relations management systems, and other potential sources of customer interaction. Whatever the data type, AWS offers a variety of data receptacle services, including Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) and Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS). There are different situations where one service will be needed over another, and this will be discussed in greater detail with any expertise AWS provides through this program.
Data Analysis
After sourcing the data, AWS has several analytics services to start picking the data apart, including Amazon Redshift and Amazon Quicksight. More importantly, the data needs to be presented in a visual method that is easy to interpret and utilize. Amazon QuickSight and Amazon Kinesis Data Analytics also provide visualization tools to create charts, graphs, and dashboards for better presentation.
Continuous Data Processing
Data will need to be further analyzed over the course of the business life cycle. As sales shift, the business expands, and as new demands arise, it is key to understand the cause of such trends and how to properly adapt to them. Monitoring the data analytics and optimizing accordingly will yield the best results. Services such as Amazon CloudWatch will continue to prove critical in fully analyzing further developments in a company and interactions with the customers.
Data Security
Especially when working with a government entity, security, and compliance with a number of security regulations is a high priority when it comes to handling other people’s private data. The US government imposes a number of these regulations on potential partners that want to work with it and AWS’ roster of security and access authorization services are all compliant. Tools such as AWS Key Management and AWS Identity Access Management will encrypt important data and allow access to specific members of the company or organization.
Machine Learning
Finally, with as much data as a company can potentially handle, there are plenty of trends in the data that could potentially go unnoticed. Reading data is not easy and there could be a change in customer behavior that the data points will outline. As a leader in the development of AI technologies, AWS does have multiple services that feature the use of AI for managing operations. Amazon SageMaker can be used to predict models and make data-driven decisions.
AWS and Data
Even with the additional funding and exposure to public institutions, the biggest hurdle that small businesses face in AWS is adapting to the cloud. Amazon handles lots of data to assist customers and accelerate its own business models. The data available can help small companies continue to adjust to an evolving marketplace and the needs that the public sector will summarily impose on them. For small businesses concerned about budgeting on AWS, we have a guide covering all the possible methods of cost-cutting here.
Data Analysis
After sourcing the data, AWS has several analytics services to start picking the data apart, including Amazon Redshift and Amazon Quicksight. More importantly, the data needs to be presented in a visual method that is easy to interpret and utilize. Amazon QuickSight and Amazon Kinesis Data Analytics also provide visualization tools to create charts, graphs, and dashboards for better presentation.
Continuous Data Processing
Data will need to be further analyzed over the course of the business life cycle. As sales shift, the business expands, and as new demands arise, it is key to understand the cause of such trends and how to properly adapt to them. Monitoring the data analytics and optimizing accordingly will yield the best results. Services such as Amazon CloudWatch will continue to prove critical in fully analyzing further developments in a company and interactions with the customers.
Data Security
Especially when working with a government entity, security, and compliance with a number of security regulations is a high priority when it comes to handling other people’s private data. The US government imposes a number of these regulations on potential partners that want to work with it and AWS’ roster of security and access authorization services are all compliant. Tools such as AWS Key Management and AWS Identity Access Management will encrypt important data and allow access to specific members of the company or organization.
Machine Learning
Finally, with as much data as a company can potentially handle, there are plenty of trends in the data that could potentially go unnoticed. Reading data is not easy and there could be a change in customer behavior that the data points will outline. As a leader in the development of AI technologies, AWS does have multiple services that feature the use of AI for managing operations. Amazon SageMaker can be used to predict models and make data-driven decisions.
AWS and Data
Even with the additional funding and exposure to public institutions, the biggest hurdle that small businesses face in AWS is adapting to the cloud. Amazon handles lots of data to assist customers and accelerate its own business models. The data available can help small companies continue to adjust to an evolving marketplace and the needs that the public sector will summarily impose on them. For small businesses concerned about budgeting on AWS, we have a guide covering all the possible methods of cost-cutting here.
I am a recent graduate from the University of Wisconsin - Stout and am now working with AllCode as a web technician. Currently working within the marketing department.
