Snowflake Cloud Data Platform has been making waves in the information technology industry since its founding in 2012. Quickly becoming a household name for data solutions, the company is coming off an incredibly successful IPO with a market cap of over $70 Billion. But as with any new technology solution that is developed, it takes time to become known and adopted. So what are the benefits of Snowflake and why are businesses opting to implement this solution?
This is really the start of a new era of Data Warehouses. By using server-less services like Snowflake, the cost and complexity of standing up and then maintaining an on-demand, cloud Data Warehouse will decline dramatically. This, in turn, opens the door to things like predictive analytics, AI implementations, truly elastic storage and affordable group computing.
Why Businesses are Choosing Snowflake
A popular model that explores the rate and time of adoption is called the Diffusion of Innovations, a theory developed by E.M. Rogers. The theory follows a simple bell curve but provides key insight into factors that influence the adoption of an innovation. The first groups to adopt an innovation need to have the resources to do so without being guaranteed success. These groups will be seen as your industry leaders, looking to shake things up, revolutionize processes, and understand the technological capabilities of the innovation. In turn, they will influence adoption by later groups.
The testimonies and success stories of other businesses are critical throughout the adoption process. Though Snowflake is a fairly young company, the benefits they offer through affordable cloud services and secure, elastic, data storage solutions have captured the attention of business leaders across industries. When Forrester interviewed four Snowflake customers who were experienced with Snowflake implementation and utilization, their combined benefits totaled a 612% ROI and over $20 million in calculated benefits. And these aren’t isolated anecdotes; a vast majority of Snowflake customers experience significant benefits.
Businesses that invested in Snowflake in its early years are reaping the rewards and now other businesses want in as well. Cloud data solutions are essential for businesses whose growth is constrained by their current systems and for those who are looking to manage and utilize their data more effectively. The rapid rate at which technology is improving makes it imperative to keep up with advancements and innovations. Cloud services are not just the future of technology but are a present reality and Snowflake is a key driver for this rapid growth and innovation.
What Drives the Adoption of New Innovations?
Before adopting an innovation, businesses must understand their unique needs and what benefits technology solutions will offer them. Defining a target ROI is essential. Informed, data-driven decisions are the key to utilizing your business resources effectively.
Though a decision to adopt technology is often complex, Rogers outlines a few perceived factors or “attributes of innovations” that can indicate the likelihood of adoption. These factors provide insight into why businesses are choosing to implement Snowflake cloud data solutions.
- Relative advantage – Snowflake makes implementation simple. Software as a service solutions (SaaS solutions) mean that businesses don’t have to worry about updates, maintenance and platform management. The cost of implementation and use compared to the benefits of adopting the solution is impressive in terms of ROI. Businesses only pay for the cost of storage and cloud services that they use, with the ability to scale up or down on demand.
- Compatibility – How well does Snowflake meet the needs of businesses? For companies that are looking for cloud data solutions, it is difficult to find a better solution in terms of modernity, scope of service offerings, scalability, cost and security. The ability to pair Snowflake with leading data tools such as Tableau and PowerBi empowers businesses to leverage their data effectively. When you choose a Snowflake implementation partner with software development experience, you can custom-tailor a unique solution to meet your business needs.
- Complexity – A large learning curve often hinders the adoption of an innovation. As a SaaS solution and intuitive, automated platform with near-zero maintenance, Snowflake enables businesses to store and analyze their data effectively to gather key insights and empower data-driven decision making.
- Trialability – Snowflake offers product demos to users who want to see the platform in action. Often, seeing the innovation and understanding how it will uniquely benefit your business holds more weight than mere words and numbers.
- Observability – Before they adopt, businesses want to know: Can you see the results? The biggest testaments to Snowflake adoption are the success stories of those who have implemented Snowflake solutions.
In addition to these attributes, an important moment during the overall diffusion process is when an innovation reaches critical mass.
Tech fact: “Critical mass for an innovation is the point at which its diffusion becomes self-sustaining and does not need to be supported by change agents or similar forces anymore.” – Dr. Leif Singer, speaking on The Diffusion of Innovations theory. |
At this point, the innovation will begin to be adopted more widely. Though Snowflake may advertise to potential customers, when businesses see the benefits that the cloud data platform offers, the reputation and thousands of success stories speak for themselves.
Organizational Innovation Process – How Organizations Adopt Innovations
In addition to the Diffusion of Innovations, Rogers further outlines the adoption of innovations from an organizational perspective. This model is termed the Organizational Innovation Process and is made up of five key steps: Agenda Setting, Matching, Redefining/Restructuring, Clarifying and Routinizing.
- Agenda setting: Identifying or defining the need/problem to be solved – For cloud data solutions, this is often the need for scalable data storage options and data integration, governance and analytics capabilities.
- Matching: Selecting an innovation to address the need and solve the problem – Businesses are choosing modern data solutions such as a data lake or cloud data platform and leveraging cloud services to grow their businesses.
- Redefining/Restructuring: The process of assimilating and adjusting the solution to meet the unique needs of the organization. – This is where your implementation partners can help integrate Snowflake services into a custom software solution. The elasticity and flexibility of the platform, along with the integration of key business and analytics tools allows you to make these solutions your own.
- Clarifying: The organization adopts and uses the innovation, while recognizing its role in the organization and the benefits it provides. – As you integrate your solution into your business, you’ll begin to reap the returns on your investment.
- Routinizing: The complete adoption of the innovation so that it becomes part of the organization itself, rather than a unique solution. – At their best, the effects of cloud solutions and a complete digital transformation become imbued in the very culture and operations of a business.
Your specific business problems and goals will inform the solution that you choose. Snowflake service partners can help you identify your needs and guide you through the implementation of your cloud data solutions, easing the transition for your business.
The Benefits of Snowflake
Besides the advantages listed above, what are some other top benefits of Snowflake Data Cloud Platform? What would make a company want to adopt their cloud data solutions?
Forrester reports that businesses who implement Snowflake solutions experience improved decision making, simplified data operations, savings on infrastructure and database management, increased profits, improved scalability and more. In short, Snowflake solutions allow businesses to take control of their data and apply it in a manner that brings maximum results.
On the flip side, to understand the benefits of Snowflake, it helps to consider the costs of inefficient data processes. If your current data systems are keeping you from growth, cloud services can help you scale your business in an affordable way.
Businesses that are hungry for a solution know that to achieve their goals, their current processes will not be sustainable. Once they realize the possibilities that cloud solutions offer them, they are ready to undergo a digital transformation.
Adopting an Innovative Snowflake Solution
Is your business ready to scale and shake things up in your industry? 7T helps our clients to become influential technology leaders who are forging new paths in the adoption of innovative solutions. With 7T as your development partner and Snowflake implementation team, we can help you leverage Snowflake cloud data solutions and craft a custom software solution that meets the needs of your business and delivers an incredibly powerful ROI. To discuss your development project, fill out the form below or reach out to the team at 7T today.