Data support services – What you need to know before you get started

Many organisations are dealing with large volumes of data that are stored on multiple disparate sources. Data that is not being effectively used is a waste of opportunity to gain powerful insights as well as a waste of resources required to store that data. Some companies will have in-house teams to manage their data, however, this is not the ideal solution for the vast majority of the companies as it can be an incredibly lengthy and costly process to build a team. Outsourcing data support services can be the most appropriate route for organisations looking to access highly skilled individuals to manage their data.

In this article, we will explore what data support services, why and when you might need them and how to find the right data services company that fits your requirements.

What are data support services?

Data support services is an umbrella term for a wide variety of data services which can take many faces in line with what a company is offering and what is required from a customer. In general terms, data support services are those provided by data engineering companies that can range from building a data infrastructure, and maintaining and managing continuous streams of big data to migrating your data from one location to another. Some of the most popular data support services include:

• Data warehousing
• Data pipeline development
• Data migration

Why you might need data support services

There are a number of instances in which you may need data support services and they include:

Skillset requirement – you may already have a team in-house but may require niches or specific skillsets e.g. skills and experiences within a certain technology (e.g. AWS or Azure) or industry (e.g. Market Research).

Additional resource – Your business is growing; your resources are being stretched thing and you need an additional hands-on board to effectively complete a project or require support on an ongoing basis.

Building a data storage solution – You may want to find a better or alternative way of storing your data than you have before. This can include a data warehouse, data lake or database.

Connecting data – You may want to connect additional data to your data sets from a new source, therefore you may require the development of a pipeline to collate your data from a new source to your data location.

Continuous data – Some organisations deal with continuous streams of data which need to be consistent without gaps and delays with accessibility and security. Here you might require operational monitoring and support.

Improvement and optimisation – You may have outdated systems and structures in place which are costing you productivity, issues and errors. So, may require services to improve and optimise your existing systems.

How to find the right data services company?

Finding the right data services company is key for your data projects to be a success. These are some of the factors you should consider and look out for when working with a data services provider:

Skills

Do the company offer relevant skills in your required skillset? For example, if you require expertise in AWS technologies, can they offer advanced-level skills?

Costs

Are the services within your budget or is it worth the costs? For this you will need to will have to research to find the average to find a company within the budget that can deliver your projects without comprising on quality.

Experience

It would be ideal if the company has relevant experience. If you are not able to see a list of clients, projects or success stories on their website, make sure you find out about relevant experiences.

Availability

Ensure you find out if the company has the availability for what you require, this will include the resource, time and skills.

Communication

What are the channels of communication that are employed and are they able to cater to your preferred channels, at your preferred frequency of communication and within your time zone? Establishing this information will be important for the success of your project.

Project delivery framework

Investigate what sort of project delivery framework is in place to make sure it is in line with your expectations.

Reviews and recommendations

Make sure to carry out research and on any reviews and recommendations to get an understanding of how the company deliver their services to previous and existing customers.

Company culture

Understanding the company culture may not be significant for every project. However, if you are working on a long-term, ongoing basis, it is essential to ensure the data engineers working on your engineers are a good fit for your teams. At Ardent, when our engineers work on projects, the client is involved in the process of selecting the data engineers working with their teams.

Ardent data engineering services

Ardent has worked with a variety of clients hailing from multiple industries to provide data engineering excellence for over a decade. Our highly experienced data engineers are proficient in world-leading technologies and can come on board to help solve your challenges. Unlock the potential of your data with Ardent data engineering service. Explore our data engineering success stories:

• Improving data turnaround by 80% with Databricks for a Fortune 500 company
• Making data science efficient with expert operational monitoring and support
• Robust, scalable data pipelines with AWS infrastructure

Get in touch to find out more or to get started.

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