The Big Data Challenges - Case Study Example

?THE BIG DATA CHALLENGES The big data challenges Affiliation In Volvo Car Corporation decided to split off from Ford, which caused serious business challenges for Volvo Car Corporation. As a result, the management of information technology based infrastructure at Volvo had turned out to be challenging, complicated, and costly. In this scenario, this separation forced the Volvo Car Corporation to develop its own individual information technology infrastructure in order to manage its business areas. Simultaneously, the organization was looking for to enhance its business intelligence (BI) operational effectiveness and functionalities. Additionally, Volvo also required a system that could deliver timely reports that are easier to recognize with the intention that Volvo managers and analysts could put together more effective and influential business scenarios for their proposals. In order to deal with these challenges Volvo Car Corporation decided to acquire and implement a Microsoft based data management solution. The basic purpose of implementing this solution was to make simpler its IT infrastructure, offer graphical self-service reporting functionalities, and enhance cooperation among other business employees (Microsoft Corporation, 2012; Business Cloud, 2010). This solution is based on Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Business Intelligence data management software and a wide variety of other BI tools and technologies such as Microsoft Office 2010 and Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. The company decided to implement this cloud based solution for the reason that cloud computing offers a number of advantages. In fact, the implementation of a cloud computing based infrastructure will allow business employees to get access to and make use of IT services that are very useful to them that they would otherwise have to develop and implement themselves. The implementation of cloud based infrastructure will also allow firm to go global for the reason that any of their existing or newly opened offices wherever in the globe can straight away take advantage of their IT environment and can make use of their latest services. In this scenario, they would not have to wait for the company’s endeavors for developing and implementing IT environment or to pipe it into their network; on the other hand they can start making use of it immediately. The implementation of cloud computing environment allows the business organizations to continue to be improved in due course, in this scenario, Volvo Car Corporation is expecting to a greater extent coming their way, and they can just take benefit of these opportunities (Microsoft Corporation, 2012; Business Cloud, 2010). One of the biggest reasons for deciding to choose products from Microsoft Corporation is that Microsoft products provide an excellent support for working in cooperation and collaboration. Additionally, Volvo Car Corporation is also going to implement the latest Power View feature in SQL Server 2012 Reporting Services. Basically, this is a self-service reporting tool that facilitates the users of data to deeply study and investigate their data themselves and get answers of informal queries without much effort. In addition, this tool provides the users with drag-and-drop graphical data displays and data-querying which are equally helpful for both skilled as well as nontechnical users. It is expected that this cloud based infrastructure will bring about an uncomplicated IT infrastructure as well as enhanced business efficiency that will help Volvo Car Corporation to run their business more competently as well as make it simple for business workers to work together. As the implementation of a cloud based infrastructure will improve communication and coordination between business workers by merging a wide variety of features such as data, reporting and business intelligence tools in a single online platform, which allows business employees to simply produce, share, save, update and deliver their work (Microsoft Corporation, 2012; Business Cloud, 2010). The basic purpose of implementing a cloud infrastructure into its networks was to collect and make effective use of data collected from Volvo vehicles to help the firm improve the quality of its vehicles as well as to help the customers have a better experience. At the present, Volvo Car Corporation captures data stored within the vehicle itself quickly transmits it by using the cloud infrastructure back to the manufacturer. In the context of Volvo car Corporation, these large data sets are classified into a central analysis hub. Usually, these datasets contain data from data warehouse, together with data from dealership systems, customer relationship systems and design systems and product development (Fairfax6, 2012). In addition, a centralized system is implemented to put together a wide variety of data such as product warranty, configuration and vehicle pinpointing with the purpose of facilitating business and technical experts all the way through the product development lifecycle. In this scenario, the timely availability and accessibility of up to date, quality-controlled facts will effectively support decision-making capabilities of the Volvo Car Corporation, all the way through the organization, at the same time as improving products’ quality, customer satisfaction, warranty costs and end product efficiency. Additionally, at Volvo Cars Corporation, a data warehouse collects data from four different sources: a system that is responsible for keeping record of hardware and vehicle specifications, the system that is responsible for gathering and managing vehicle diagnostic data from service centers located all over the world, the systems that is responsible for managing on the ship software specifications, and the warranty claims system. Moreover, Microsoft supported business intelligence solutions are applied on this data. Furthermore, effective data access and scrutiny are supported through various ad hoc analytics and standard reports, implemented through in-house built applications and modern BI technologies (Teradata Corporation, 2011; Tobey, 2013). The implementation of modern tools and technologies for the management of big data will help Volvo Car Corporation attain a competitive edge. In this scenario, through the integration of these streams of design, life cycle and warranty working on data at a single processing platform, the employees are exclusively placed to identify with the links among various departments such as performance, engineering and customer experience. The implementation of this modern infrastructure allows Volvo employees to (Tobey, 2013): Detect and keep record of machinery problems and their root causes Identify and record failure rates in due course as well as analytical representation of upcoming trends Associate machinery breakdowns and technical problems with locations, circumstances and driving patterns Set target, establish priorities, and accelerate problem solving endeavors Understand and determine problems in manufacturing and design within the in progress production run In view of the fact that Volvo Car Corporation has thorough data related to all of its cars as well as there is no need to collect and integrate it manually hence any failures and issues can be detected quickly and resolved more correctly. Additionally, when working teams make use of the same data, they serve as one. The importance of such capabilities to vehicle quality and safety is self-evident. In addition, with the passage of time, decision making has turned out to be more fact-based, hence the effective management of this data facilitates in decision making (Tobey, 2013). References Business Cloud. (2010, October 11). Volvo drives into the Clouds. Retrieved July 11, 2013, from http://www.businesscloud9.com/topic/applications/volvo-drives-clouds/3668 Fairfax6. (2012, December 16). Big Data Challenges. Retrieved July 08, 2013, from http://www.termpaperwarehouse.com/essay-on/Big-Data-Challenges/126618 Microsoft Corporation. (2012, March 19). Volvo Car Corporation. Retrieved July 10, 2013, from http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?CaseStudyID=710000000271 Teradata Corporation. (2011). A Car company powered by data. New York: Teradata Corporation. Tobey, B. (2013). Data in the driver’s seat. Retrieved July 10, 2013, from http://www.teradatamagazine.com/v10n02/Features/Data-in-the-drivers-seat/ Read More