Today’s technology can enable businesses and organizations to harness their data to its fullest potential and gain insights to help boost performance and success. That is, if they use all of their data.

It is possible to source data from many different tools and systems involved in a business’s processes. Therefore, being unable to develop insights from data sources could mean missing out on some vital information. Specifically, information that could otherwise propel a business to success.

You never know what data could be monumental in transforming business practices for the better, which is why it is so important to be able to access and analyze as much as possible. In order to do this, data integration strategies can facilitate the transfer and use of data between locations.

How does integrated data impact BI of a company?

Integrated data can support BI for companies, as it can enable them to gain insights to help them make actionable decisions. These insights inform organizations of the best possible methods for achieving their desired results and help them determine ways to adjust their business strategies to incorporate this knowledge.

What outcomes are possible with data integration?

Businesses that integrate their data can find ways to improve their business decisions and processes to generate beneficial outcomes.

For example, suppose a business was to integrate its data to enable it to use the data for analysis within a software system. This could help the business determine insights and develop methods to improve its return on investment, promote its services and products, and predict future business scenarios.

Data integration can also help to improve communication and collaboration among decision-makers. This could enable them to determine methods for reaching better business outcomes.

What important data integration speedbumps might impact your BI?

Of course, the value of an insight brought on by data analysis depends on the accuracy of the data being analyzed. Unfortunately, speed bumps can pop up throughout the data integration process, which could compromise the value and usefulness of the integrated data.

Data silos

Data silos are usually accessible by a select group of individuals and can create issues with data sharing and integration. In addition, the inaccessibility and limited visibility mean that it can often be misunderstood or result in poor data quality. This can also cause inconsistencies in data that may overlap across other locations, threatening data integrity.

Data inconsistency

Data inconsistency refers is when different versions of identical data exist in multiple places. This can end up creating an incorrect representation of the information within a database. This can cause significant issues with analyzing data. Some forms of data inconsistency can include temporal, semantic, structural, and transformation inconsistency.

Disorganized data

Disorganized data, or unstructured data, is data that does not follow any predefined structure or organization hierarchy. Disorganized data can be problematic when integrating data from various sources for use within a separate system.

Compromised data integrity 

Many of the aforementioned issues can result in compromised data integrity. This means the data is no longer accurate or consistent. Compromised data serves no value to BI, as it cannot be analyzed to gain real insights about the business.

Strategies for Integrating Data Into BI

Application-based integration

Many enterprise applications use prebuilt connections to facilitate the transfer of information from the source into the desired location. These applications can usually automate the retrieval, transformation, and movement of this data information, making it an easy integration option.

While this may be an ideal method for data integration, built-in connections are not always supported between software systems. Therefore, using another data integration method in these cases may be helpful.

Middleware data integration

Middleware enables the sharing of data between multiple applications. Businesses can use middleware to transfer data from source systems. This can then be moved into a central data repository, where it can be accessed for data analysis.

A helpful aspect of middleware data integration is that middleware platforms can validate and format the data before transferring it. This ensures businesses won’t end up with compromised data integrity or disorganized data.

Common storage (data warehousing)

Common storage integration is when data is copied from the source location and then transferred to a data warehouse. The data warehouse will store the information and display it in a consistent format.

The data is transformed prior to copying and storage. This means all of the information in the data warehouse has a consistent, uniformed appearance. This integration method is also great for data integrity, as all data information is accessible from the data warehouse as one single source.

Data consolidation

Data consolidation is when information from multiple data sources are combined within a system, which acts as a new single source of truth for the organization. The data consolidation technique can enable organizations to maintain fewer storage locations for data.

ETL (extract, transform, load) technology is an example of a system that uses data consolidation to move large amounts of data. It does so by pulling data from sources, cleaning, filtering, transforming, and applying business rules to the data before finally transferring it to the end location.

Hand-coding (manual data integration)

Hand-coding is the manual data integration process where humans will evaluate and categorize data without using a software system. This way, the business can develop its own strategies and custom code for organizing and integrating data information.

While this method may provide more control over the integration process, it has several drawbacks. Hand-coding can be a slow and tedious job, and the lack of automation also means a greater likelihood of human error throughout the process. Manually integrating data also means needing to manually change code when integrating new data, which can make it challenging to scale and maintain the information for larger datasets.

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What are office politics in the workplace?

Office politics are present in any type of work, whether corporate or blue-collar, remote or office-based, part-time or full-time. These politics describe employees’ activities and behaviors to advance their personal agenda at work. They include conversations, alliances, and strategies to progress their own careers or put themselves in a better position.  

The word “politics” has such negative connotations, conjuring up cloak-and-dagger images of secret meetings, sabotage, and backstabbing. While these activities likely occur in the most toxic workplaces, many other companies realize that workplace politics are simply a sign of eager, ambitious employees. When approached with integrity, companies can foster collaboration and motivate workers to progress in their careers without any unsavory politicking.  

What causes office politics in the workplace? 

Office politics are the result of some common workplace issues: heirarchies and power struggles, resource competition, company culture, personality clashes, and poor communication.

Hierarchies and power struggles 

Unless you’re working for a company with a truly flat organizational structure, ranks and roles will play a huge part in your workplace’s power dynamics. Employees looking for the next step up may engage in gameplay to get ahead. Speaking on the No BS Leadership podcast, host Martin Moore explains, “Politics is the path that many choose when they can’t deliver results. What they lack in ability, they make up for in ambition, so they find another way to climb the ladder. And that’s often by using politics to someone else’s detriment.” 

Resource competition 

Much like in the wild, employees lean on politics at work to compete for something that is scarce. For example, if there’s only one promotion opportunity in the department or a single invitation to join the CEO at a networking event, coworkers might make maneuvers to get there first. 

Company culture

Company culture plays a huge role in the presence of office politics. An organization that sets the tone for collaboration is likely to experience transparency and open dialog as part of its growth culture. In contrast, a company that welcomes competition as a core value could attract politically-charged behavior. 

Personality clashes

Every individual in your organization is unique—each has different opinions and experiences and may clash when working closely with others. If these interactions turn sour, toxic office politics become a tool for getting ahead while hindering collaboration.

Poor communication

Misunderstandings or lack of clarity cause serious frustration. And this may drive employees to seek alternative ways to get their messages across or achieve their goals. Poor communication can also create information silos, making some employees feel out of the loop and invoking their political skills to stay informed or exert influence. 

5 examples of office politics 

Employees may engage in some of the following politics to stay ahead at work: networking and personal relationships, high ambitions, backstabbing, withholding information, and impression management.

1. Networking and personal relationships 

In Workplace Competition: Why We Compete at Work, Robert Hogan, PhD, founder and president of Hogan Assessments, explains that in a group context, humans are driven by a need to get along, get ahead, and find meaning. Networking achieves the first two of these, allowing employees to build bonds with influential people within the organization. 

In some situations, an employee may carefully position themselves as their manager’s trusted advisor or develop a network across the company or wider industry to ensure they have strong connections to tap if needed. While networking is inextricably linked with politics, these relationships also provide access to people and resources that can ensure a team’s success.

2. High levels of ambition

Every employee in an organization is on their own personal career advancement journey, and only a few will make it to a leadership position. Ambitious employees may see workplace politics as necessary to get ahead, using any means available. 

3. Backstabbing 

Backstabbing is one of the darker sides of workplace politics, a weakness that shows up when employees are desperate to protect their position or advance it. Peers may deliberately harm others in the organization through: 

• Character assassination: Deliberately tarnishing someone’s reputation by spreading rumors or sharing false information that undermines others’ confidence in them. 
• Scapegoating: Letting someone else take the blame to protect themselves when things go wrong. 
• Being two-faced: Publicly supporting someone but taking a different stance in private.  

4. Withholding information 

Some employees may withhold information that could benefit the team or colleagues who are engaging in politically-motivated behavior. This may include keeping secrets, hoarding resources, or deliberately leaving others out of important conversations or meetings. This type of politicking harms team dynamics and makes it difficult for groups to work effectively together. 

5. Impression management  

To put a positive spin on their own endeavors, some employees will significantly embellish their achievements to pass them off as something remarkable. They may exaggerate their role in a successful project or selectively highlight their contributions to manipulate others’ perceptions of them. 

How office politics affect business 

At first glance, workplace politics may appear focused on individuals—but they also affect the organization’s morale, innovation, turnover, and strategic alliances.

Undermines morale and engagement 

Gallup research highlights only 23% of global employees feel engaged at work, illustrating the fragility of the employee experience. There’s potential for negative office politics to erode morale and even your workers’ mental health as colleagues distrust each other. 

Influences innovation

When HR teams and leaders recognize those highly motivated employees capable of excelling in their roles, they can convert their energy into innovative and productive outcomes. On the flip side, employees obsessed with the next promotion opportunity may spend more time strategizing instead of generating exciting new ideas and solutions for the company. 

Creates turnover issues 

In a working world where 46% of employees plan to look for a new job in the next three months, companies must be aware of how internal dynamics can influence employee satisfaction rates and push people toward the exit. Employees who feel overlooked for promotion or constantly embroiled in internal conflict may want a fresh start elsewhere. Similarly, workers whose professional development efforts haven’t worked as planned may seek opportunities with a different employer instead. 

Fosters alliance-building

One of the greatest positives associated with employees engaging in office politics is their ability to foster strategic alliances. When they forge connections with customers, business partners, or even team members in adjacent departments, the overall business can benefit from these relationships through improved retention rates and increased profit.  

How to address office politics

After identifying political behavior in your organization, try the following techniques to shepherd your employees toward merit-based success rather than manipulation.

Build strong team relationships 

Encourage your team members to respect and learn from each other. Every new hire arrives in your organization as an individual, but integrating with the wider team will allow them to reach shared goals. According to Hanne Wulp, Leadership Development Trainer and Executive Coach at Communication Wise, “Social influence is a force that will always exist (we are social creatures) and can be used for good and bad. With this piece of knowledge, HR leaders and managers can nudge people toward acting in deliberately helpful, desired, inclusive ways, versus acting for their own personal or elite group gain.” 

One way to build stronger relationships is by leveraging employee engagement solutions like Rising Team. Rising Team is an employee engagement solution that fosters stronger relationships between coworkers. Aimed at remote, hybrid, and on-site teams, its 45-60 minute Connection kit encourages each team member to reflect and share personal experiences with the wider group. 

Promote peer recognition 

Another way to solidify team relationships is to encourage peers, managers, and leaders to express gratitude for the contributions of those around them. Negative politics are less likely to take root when you’ve established a culture of appreciation for coworkers who stand alongside each other every day. 

Peer recognition can be as simple as highlighting team members in a meeting or posting a message on a kudos wall. An alternative is to use a platform like Nectar, which offers a digital space for employees to exchange shoutouts and redeemable reward points. 

Maintain transparency and communication 

Open communication will keep office gossip and mistruths from being exchanged behind closed doors. Leaders must maintain an environment where everyone feels psychologically safe voicing their opinions and knows who to approach with any concerns. Typically, this means implementing an open-door policy and hosting regular team and roundtable discussions where individuals are encouraged to speak their truth without fear of retribution.  

However, this won’t happen overnight, which is where anonymous feedback can be a valuable tool in uncovering any toxic cultural practices. Employees might use Bob’s Your Voice feature as a safe space to discuss harassment, unsafe or illegal activities, and any workplace misconduct. The tool is encrypted and accessible from both mobile and web, making it easy for your workers to offer honest feedback.

Align individual and organizational goals 

Keen, motivated employees can be a blessing for your company if you can align their personal objectives with your overarching business strategy. Mitch Chailland, President of Canal HR, describes how his company aims to manage this ambition positively, “We empower managers to notice when the team member’s self-motives could be helpful to the organization, for example, when the team member is aspiring to do more work or lead a project.” 

Regular career development conversations are key to this type of streamlining, drawing on performance reviews and providing actionable next steps to progress employees toward their goals. Deel Engage‘s performance management software maps individual and team goals to a company’s overall career development framework. It identifies existing skills gaps and provides targeted training programs to help employees progress from their current positions to their desired roles.

HR’s role in navigating office politics in the workplace 

Organizational politics are entirely normal. They exist everywhere and go hand in hand with managing career-focused employees who want to succeed. The HR team’s role is to be proactive in harnessing this professional enthusiasm for the good of the company rather than letting it negatively impact your other workers. Stay alert to what’s happening, understand where to provide support, and when to redirect damaging behavior into more productive channels. 

The post How to Navigate Office Politics in the Workplace appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

When comparing Looker vs. Tableau, two of the most popular business intelligence (BI) software tools on the market today, it’s crucial to have the facts laid out as clearly as possible before making a decision.

Business intelligence software executes data preparation and management, data querying, predictive analytics, and many other analytical tools that help managers make better decisions based on BI outputs. We will look at the features of each BI software tool to give readers more insight into which product will best fit their companies.

Looker vs. Tableau: A detailed comparison

Business intelligence software has many tools to provide insightful details managers can use. However, to get the most out of one of these tools, managers need to know the company size, the types of charts and graphs needed, and the business analytical requirements.

With that data in hand, one can use this comparison as a tool to help make your final decision the right decision. 

Looker vs. Tableau: Commonalities

Looker and Tableau are both comprehensive, flexible, and scalable solutions that prioritize user accessibility and collaboration. While they each have their unique strengths and weaknesses, these core commonalities make them leading choices in the realm of business intelligence software:

Looker and Tableau both offer an array of BI tools to help businesses make informed decisions using advanced Machine Learning (ML) concepts.

Both platforms are incredibly user-friendly.

You don’t need to be a data scientist to navigate through them; they’re built for everyone from the intern in the marketing department to the CFO. This universal appeal is what makes them so indispensable.

It’s like having a universal remote for all your data sources.

Integration is another area where both stand out. Whether your data lives in the cloud, in SQL databases, or even in good old Excel sheets, Looker and Tableau make it a easy to pull that data in.

Let’s talk about scalability.

Looker and Tableau have engineered their platforms to be highly scalable so they grow alongside your business.

Tableau offers a distributed server architecture that allows you to add more server nodes as your data and user base expand. This means you can handle larger data sets and more concurrent users without sacrificing performance.

Looker leverages an in-database architecture, allowing it to push queries to the database itself. This ensures that as your data grows, you can scale your database resources to maintain high-speed analytics. Both platforms also offer cloud-based solutions, providing the elasticity to quickly scale up or down based on your needs.

Both tools are big on teamwork.

They offer nifty collaboration features that make it easy to share insights, annotate findings, and even distribute reports. It’s like a virtual huddle for your team, where everyone gets to contribute to the game plan.

Also read: Tableau Alternatives

Looker vs. Tableau: Key differences

Looker is fully deployed as a browser-based intelligence software with no desktop installation requirement. In addition, Looker offers a mobile app solution. Tableau is a desktop-based platform with a Tableau license for cloud access but with limited cloud capabilities. Looker uses its version of structured query language called LookML with pre-built Looker Blocks. Tableau uses a spatial file connector to create maps.

While those are substantial differences, when it comes to team-facing features, the two titles serve the same overall purpose.

What are the key features of Looker?

Looker offers several key features that will enhance the ability to view data in real-time, build applications with embedded analytics, and provide proactive insights with instant alerting for quicker decision-making. Here are some of the key features of Looker:

What are the key features of Tableau?

Tableau’s focus is on creating sophisticated visual representations of data. As a result, Tableau allows users to quickly analyze large amounts of data that can be converted into reports. Tableau has a heavy focus on dashboards, but here are some other key features of this BI solution:

Looker vs. Tableau: Pricing

Looker pricing:

• Platform pricing: Looker offers three editions—Standard, Enterprise, and Embed. The Standard edition costs $5,000 per month with a pay-as-you-go model. Enterprise and Embed editions require you to call sales for an annual commitment.
• User licensing: Looker offers three types of user licenses—Viewer ($30/user/month), Standard ($60/user/month), and Developer ($125/user/month). These fees are consistent across all editions.

Tableau pricing:

• License tiers: Tableau offers three tiers—Creator, Explorer, and Viewer. The Creator license is $70/user/month for the cloud version and $35/user/month for on-premise. The Explorer license is $42/user/month for cloud and $20/user/month for on-premise. The Viewer license is $15/user/month for cloud and $10/user/month for on-premise.
• Enterprise package: Tableau also offers an enterprise package with custom pricing.
• Additional Costs: Some users have noted that Tableau may require additional tools for data extraction, adding to the total cost.

Key takeaways

• Looker offers a more customized pricing model, allowing for tailored solutions. Tableau offers fixed pricing tiers, which may or may not suit all organizational needs.
• Both platforms offer tiered user licensing but differ in costs and capabilities.
• Tableau provides upfront pricing, whereas Looker requires you to engage with their sales team for most of their offerings.

Looker vs. Tableau: Feature comparison overview

As you can see, Looker and Tableau have different key features available to users. This section will look at some of the expected features of a business intelligence and data analytics software solution.

Feature	Looker	Tableau	Advantage
Data Visualization	Looker provides a dynamic dashboard filter feature that can filter for data visualization types and specific users or groups. Looker also has a mapping feature to aid in chart creation.	Tableau specializes in visualization dashboards and infographics. Tableau provides pre-made templates and has a wizard feature that helps non-technical users.
Integration	Looker integrates with big data platforms and databases and can execute queries without extracting data	Tableau has over 200 connectors that can connect to multiple sources such as RDBMS, spreadsheets, Presto, SQL Server, Cloudera, Hadoop, Amazon Athena, and Salesforce
Data Modeling	LookML is a data modeling tool that is reusable and flexible. LookML has pre-built modeling called Looker Blocks used to build sophisticated query analytics	Tableau uses snowflakes and dimensional data models that help improve the performance of queries
Reporting	Provides basic reporting templates	Users can build customized reports with extensive connectors to create dashboards and reports
Speed	Looker is slower, and users may need several hours to share a report	Allows a user to create visualization reports in short periods
Advanced Analytics	Looker pre-built code blocks are configurable, and LookLM allows for a deeper analytical review of data	Tableau does not have pre-built code blocks, but it is more configurable than Looker
Security	Looker provides an admin panel to change security settings and 2-factor authentication	Tableau allows a user to protect reports and dashboards, but not with the detail of Looker
Mobile Support	Looker’s mobile app allows you to view data using any browser with an Internet connection. Emails and chat sessions are available too. Users can log in using a QR code or biometrics	Android and iOS devices can use Tableau’s mobile web application
Pricing	For a company, $5,000/per month, but Looker offers a variety of business plans depending on size	Tableau’s creator license cost per user is $70/per month, and for a viewer, it’s $15/per month

Looker vs. Tableau: Which BI software is right for your business

The best BI solution is subjective since every company’s situation differs slightly. For example, a company that uses Salesforce may lean towards Tableau since Salesforce purchased Tableau four years ago. Any company heavily invested in using Google products may lean towards Looker. Just because a company uses Google or Salesforce products should not be the basis for a decision.

Other factors to consider are the existing infrastructure, analytical data needs, and storage preferences, whether cloud or local, are only a subset of reasons why a company may choose one BI product over the other.

How to choose between Tableau vs Looker

A business need for a BI software solution was identified as a requirement. Next, the company generates a list of requirements on why BI software is needed. These requirements vary from company to company, but they are the driving force behind choosing a BI solution. Finally, decision-makers are on track to make the right decision using the key features and the comparison overview along with additional research.

Looking for the latest in Business Intelligence solutions? Check out our Business Intelligence Software Buyer’s Guide.

The post Looker vs. Tableau: An In-Depth Data Analysis Showdown 2024 appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

Unlike descriptive and predictive analytics, which focus on understanding past data and predicting future trends, prescriptive analytics provides actionable recommendations on what steps to take next. Below are nine of the best prescriptive analytics tools to help you forecast the business weather and prepare for the storms ahead.

• Alteryx: Best end-user experience
• Azure Machine Learning: Best for data privacy
• SAP Integrated Business Planning: Best for supply chain optimization
• Looker: Best for data modeling
• Tableau: Best for data visualization
• Oracle Autonomous Data Warehouse: Best for scalable data management
• RapidMiner Studio: Best for data mining and aggregation
• IBM Decision Optimization: Best for machine learning
• KNIME: Best data science flexibility on a budget

Prescriptive analytics

A quick breakdown of the four common functions of business intelligence:

Descriptive Analytics	The “What”	Used to organize data, parse it, and visualize it to identify trends.
Diagnostic Analytics	The “Why”	Used to analyze trends, examine their progress over time, and establish causality.
Predictive Analytics	The “When”	Used to compile trend and causality data, and extrapolate upcoming changes to anticipate outcomes.
Prescriptive Analytics	The “How”	Used to predict possible scenarios, test possible strategies for ROI or loss potential, and recommend actions.

Prescriptive analytics is among the most advanced business applications for machine learning and data science. It requires a significant amount of AI processing and depends on large volumes of reliable data. More importantly, like a human employee, it can be trained to respond to inputs and scenarios over time, improving the recommendations it outputs.

Recent studies, such as this one published in the International Journal of Management Information Systems and Data Science, highlight the transformative impact of integrating machine learning with prescriptive analytics to enhance business decision-making processes and competitive advantage.

For a deeper dive on prescriptive analytics and where it fits into the data analysis ecosystem, check out this article on data analysis software.

Read more: What is Diagnostic Analytics?

“Always tell me the odds”: Why prescriptive analytics matter

Prescriptive analytics isn’t a crystal ball. What it is might be closer in analogy to an independent consultant or a military tactician. It surveys the battlefield and considers numerous scenarios based on likelihood, parameters and circumstantial constraints, intensity of effects on final outcomes, and the options or resources available to the organization.

Then, after simulating the possibilities and comparing current plans to potential alternatives, it makes recommendations to promote the most positive results. 

In short, it doesn’t remove the uncertainty from business planning; it reduces the level of disruption caused by unanticipated events or a lack of forethought.

Forecasting outcomes like this can be used to achieve a number of important business goals:

• Preventing or mitigating loss
• Minimizing or avoiding risk factors
• Optimizing processes, schedules, and routes
• Improving resource utilization and limiting downtime
• Anticipating opportunities

With prescriptive analytics, businesses can work proactively, instead of reactively. It’s reassurance and validation when things go according to plan, and it’s a safety net when things take a turn for the catastrophic. Either way, you’ve explored the possibilities via numerous scenarios and simulations, and you’re as prepared as possible for what the future brings.

Choosing the best prescriptive analytics software

Remember, “crazy prepared” is only a negative until everyone needs what you’ve prepared in advance. Hopefully, this list of prescriptive analytics tools will help you find the solution that positions your business as the Batman of your industry. If not, check out our in-depth embedded analytics guide for more insight on how to choose a provider for your use case.

Looking for the latest in Business Intelligence solutions? Check out our Business Intelligence Software Buyer’s Guide.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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Metadata refers to a series of data tags that contain information embedded in the source code of virtually every webpage that can be accessed online. These data tags go unseen by casual visitors and work in the background to describe the contents of your website, making metadata important for gaining visibility on social media and improving search engine results. 

Overall, metadata plays a crucial role in information sharing, usage rights, and content reuse, as it provides essential context and structure for organizing, tracking, and distributing much of the content we find online today.

What is metadata?

Metadata is information that provides clear context or details about other data and helps describe, organize, and manage content by making it easier to find and access while browsing the internet. At its core, whether your data is structured or unstructured, metadata helps you understand and work with data more easily and efficiently. 

Read more: What is Data Analytics?

What is metadata in a database?

Metadata in a database system is information that describes the data’s structure, properties, and organization. It includes details like table and column names, data types, constraints, and indexes. When metadata is stored, it acts as an easily accessible blueprint that helps users and applications understand how to access and manage that data. Metadata also ensures consistency, enables efficient querying, and supports data integrity, serving as an essential foundation for database functionality and usability.

Metadata models and standards

Metadata models define the structure and organization of metadata, enabling the consistent representation and management of information. Common models include hierarchical, relational, and graph-based, with each suited for specific use cases. Standards ensure uniformity and promote compatibility across systems.

These models and standards streamline data integration, discovery, and sharing by providing clear and simplified frameworks. Adopting standardized metadata practices supports scalability, enhances data quality, and simplifies collaboration. This makes it easier to manage complex datasets across diverse platforms and industries.

What is metadata in database management?

Metadata and database management are intricately connected, as metadata serves as the descriptive framework for the structure and organization of a database. In database management, metadata plays a key role in optimizing performance, ensuring security, and supporting data governance. It helps guide query optimization, defines user roles and access permissions, and tracks changes to the database. Essentially, metadata serves as an operational guide that ensures databases are organized and secure.

What should metadata tell you about the data?

Metadata provides key information about the data, making it easier to understand and use. It should describe what the data is, its purpose, and how it is organized. This helps users and systems interact with the data properly and run accurate queries. Metadata also tracks where the data came from, when it was created or updated, and who made changes to it.

Read more: What is Data Mining?

Why is metadata important?

Metadata is important because it provides essential context about data, enabling users and systems to understand, organize, and utilize it effectively. It describes the structure, content, and origin of data, which ensures its proper management. 

Metadata also supports security by defining access controls and compliance requirements while enhancing data quality. Additionally, it aids in data discovery, making it easier to locate, interpret, and maintain data over time. 

Benefits of metadata

The benefits of metadata include improved organization, accessibility, and data usability. It helps users understand data’s structure and purpose, making it easier to locate and define. Metadata also boosts efficiency by enabling accurate searches and better data management overall. By validating data quality and recording its origin and changes, metadata ensures overall reliability, simplifies data management, and supports timely decision-making.

Why metadata is important for a data set

Metadata is important for a dataset because it explains the data and how it is organized, making it easier to understand and use. It supports accurate analysis, ensures data quality by tracking changes and validation rules, and improves security through access controls and compliance. Metadata also records the data’s source and history. This clarity and organization make datasets more reliable, accessible, and manageable.

Why metadata is important for data management

Metadata is important for data management because it helps organize, access, and maintain data by providing structure and context. It also makes it easier to understand the data’s content and rules, which ensures its accurate use. Additionally, metadata improves data quality by tracking changes and enforcing rules, while supporting security by defining access and ensuring compliance.

Read more: What is Data Visualization & Why Does it Matter?

How does metadata improve data quality?

Metadata improves data quality by setting rules and standards for how data is stored, accessed, and maintained. It defines details like data types and the relationships between datasets to ensure consistency and accuracy. Additionally, metadata improves data quality by preventing errors like invalid entries and duplicate records, which works to improve overall reliability.

Metadata also improves usability by documenting where data comes from, when it was updated, and how it has been used. This transparency helps identify and fix issues while ensuring users understand the data’s history. Additionally, metadata organizes information and defines relationships, making data easier to find and interpret. By providing structure and context, metadata supports high-quality data throughout its lifecycle.

Read more: Common Data Quality Issues & How to Solve Them

Metadata best practices & challenges

To use metadata effectively, establish clear standards and governance to ensure consistency and accuracy. Automation tools like artificial intelligence (AI) help manage large datasets efficiently and regularly updating metadata keeps it accurate. Collaboration among teams also ensures that metadata meets both your technical and business needs. Metadata should provide enough detail for context without being overwhelming.

Challenges include inconsistent standards, which can hinder data integration, and the resource-intensive nature of metadata management. Legacy systems may struggle with compatibility when adopting modern tools, and poorly managed metadata can cause confusion and erode trust in data. As datasets grow, balancing automation with human oversight is crucial to maintaining accuracy and usability.

Read more: Top Big Data Tools and Software

Future of metadata and emerging trends

The future of metadata is increasingly tied to automation and advanced technologies like AI and machine learning (ML). These technologies enable automated metadata generation, classification, and management, which reduces manual effort and ensures more consistent and comprehensive metadata creation. 

As datasets grow in complexity and scale, dynamic and adaptive metadata systems are becoming more essential. These systems can adjust in real-time to evolving data environments, supporting faster analytics and decision-making. Enhanced metadata standards are also driving innovation by ensuring metadata improves data discoverability and usability across diverse platforms.

Emerging trends in metadata include its integration with blockchain for improved security and the rise of metadata powered by natural language processing (NLP). Another trend is the growing focus on metadata governance, as organizations recognize its importance for compliance, privacy, and ethical data use. With these advancements, metadata is evolving from a passive descriptive tool to an active enabler of intelligent and scalable data ecosystems.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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Choosing the right VoIP for your small business is no small take. A voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) system is a software solution that enables businesses to make voice calls online. Compared to traditional landline systems, it’s more scalable and affordable, eliminating the high costs and disruptive downtimes when a business expands its communication operations. Different businesses benefit from VoIP systems, including telecommunications companies providing customer assistance and healthcare organizations offering telemedicine services. 

The best VoIP for small businesses features tools for supporting different call volumes, integrates with a wide range of third-party solutions, and offers high uptime guarantees. In this article, we listed the top software solutions to help you decide which one is best for your communication needs:

• RingCentral: Best for scalability
• Nextiva: Best for toll-free calling
• Google Voice: Best for solopreneur communications
• Acefone: Best for call center operations
• Ooma: Best for brick-and-mortar communications
• Phone.com: Best for fluctuating call volumes

Our top VoIP picks for small businesses

RingCentral is a unified communications platform that allows users to make phone calls, chat with colleagues, send and receive text and fax messages, and facilitate video meetings. It supports local public switched telephone networks (PSTN) in 46 countries and offers international virtual numbers in 100 locations, enabling businesses to easily expand overseas.

Aside from the robust VoIP system, the company has a contact center platform powered by artificial intelligence (AI). It automatically records interaction summaries, notes, and follow-ups in a customer relationship management (CRM) tool, tracks keywords and phrases, like competitor names and product features, and generates call scoring.

For its robust small business VoIP phone system, RingCentral was recognized as a Leader in Gartner’s 2023 Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) Worldwide report.

Since 2006, Nextiva has offered various communications solutions packed with excellent sales and customer service tools. When subscribed to its small business phone system, VoIP features like unlimited domestic calling, conference calls, free number porting and enterprise integrations are accessible. The platform features call pop, a native CRM system, and customizable sales pipelines, which allow agents to streamline lead generation and nurturing processes.

Meanwhile, the provider’s contact center provides access to robust proactive outreach features, such as the auto-dialer and dynamic scripting. It supports various communication channels, including voice, SMS, chat, email, social, and web forms. In 2023, Nextiva was recognized as a Customers’ Choice in the Gartner Peer Insights “Voice of the Customer” report for UCaaS.

Google Voice is a VoIP phone service launched in 2009 after tech giant Google acquired the phone service GrandCentral. It allows users to forward calls to a phone number linked to the account. Those subscribed to the paid plan can secure phone numbers in over 10 countries and regions.

Aside from the U.S. and Canada, the platform is available in various international locations, including Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom. In 2023, the small business phone system VoIP introduced spam warning functionality for texts, labeling suspicious texts as “suspected spam.”

Founded in 2019, U.K.-based company Acefone offers various cloud-based communication platforms, including VoIP systems and inbound and outbound contact centers. It provides 99.99% uptime, translating to only four minutes of monthly downtime. Its round-the-clock support helps businesses troubleshoot issues quickly, enabling uninterrupted customer service.

Aside from VoIP for small businesses, Acefone has a broad catalog of toll-free and vanity numbers. Through custom digits, companies can reflect brand identity in their contact information. Acefone earned Capterra’s “Best Ease of Use” badge in 2022 for its highly intuitive interface.

Phone service vendor Ooma provides home and office plans, catering to households, homepreneurs, and small and large companies. Ooma Residential features the analog telephone adapter Ooma Telo, which offers a VoIP phone service without a monthly charge, only a one-time fee for the device. 

Meanwhile, Ooma Office caters to small teams regularly receiving customer service calls. Ooma Enterprise is for large organizations, providing access to a call center platform with intelligent routing capabilities and open APIs.

Phone.com, a communications software company founded in 2007, offers a business phone system with more than 50 standard VoIP features, including auto-attendant, hold music, call handling rules, and call logs. It features an artificial intelligence (AI)- powered intelligent answer bot that automatically connects callers to the right service representatives and screens spam calls. To help clients handle calls more efficiently, Phone.com offers live receptionist services.

Aside from call management, the provider supports other types of communications, such as video conferencing, accommodating a maximum of 100 participants. Attendees can use collaboration tools, like chat and whiteboards, while in the session. On top of that, Phone.com enables users to send and receive text and fax messages.

Key components of VoIP systems

VoIP for small businesses facilitates efficient communications with customers and among team members thanks to its various capabilities. These are the features included in cloud-based phone systems:

• Unlimited calling: VoIP solutions offer unlimited domestic calling within the U.S. and Canada, with some extending the coverage to overseas territories, like Mexico. Others offer unlimited international calling, benefiting companies with clients abroad. When you compare VoIP and cellular services, the former offers more significant money savings since it doesn’t come with roaming charges that apply to the latter.
• Call management: These tools include call forwarding, call transfer, hold music, call waiting, and call queues, which enable teams to handle incoming calls in an orderly manner.
• Mobility: A softphone app compatible with iOS and Android systems helps users place and accept calls outside the office. Voicemail transcription makes referring to message details easier, especially when traveling. Virtual fax lets you send and receive fax messages wherever you are.
• Phone numbers: Most VoIP systems offer local phone numbers, while others offer toll-free and vanity numbers. Still, some provide local numbers in overseas locations.
• Analytics: A customizable analytics dashboard shows various performance metrics in real-time. Some VoIP solutions feature robust historical reporting tools, wherein you can generate custom reports based on the performance areas you want to track and evaluate.

Benefits of using VoIP systems

Businesses will find VoIP platforms valuable in streamlining communications. The advanced call management features — designed to direct customers to the right agents and create a pleasant call experience — contribute to customer loyalty in the long run. Aside from customer communications, VoIP systems improve team collaboration as they offer access to instant messaging and video conferencing.

Similarly, VoIP systems help lower communication costs. You won’t have to spend on installing and maintaining phone lines and hardware equipment, as in landline systems. The money savings are greater in the long run, especially when you add more users to the phone system since there’s no need to install extra physical phone lines.

When you choose a hosted VoIP solution, you only pay a fixed monthly fee per user. The maintenance of the infrastructure is already included in your subscription.

Considering all the ways this service can be leveraged, it’s important to find the right VoIP providers for your small business. After all, not all businesses have the same exact needs.

Choosing the best VoIP system for your small business

VoIP platforms help small businesses boost customer satisfaction, facilitate team collaboration, and reduce communication costs. As you consider adopting cloud-based phone systems, consider your communication needs to find the best VoIP providers for small business that match your requirements. 

If your company plans to grow its operations soon, choose RingCentral as its robust third-party integrations support scalability. Go for Nextiva and maximize its generous toll-free minute allowance if you serve a national clientele. Google Voice is the ideal solution for solopreneurs since it offers a free plan and basic calling features. 

Acefone is an excellent VoIP choice for companies running call center operations, as it’s packed with advanced call management tools. For brick-and-mortar communications, choose Ooma, the phone system that supports intercom calling and overhead paging. Finally, Phone.com should be your top option for fluctuating call volumes since you can choose between metered and unlimited calling plans.

Check out our VoIP software guide to browse other solutions if you have other communication requirements.

FAQ

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What is continuous performance management?

Continuous performance management is a style of performance management where team leads check in frequently with their direct reports. It’s a cycle made up of three steps: setting objectives, checking in with managers, and getting feedback.

In a continuous performance management cycle, the employee and manager work together to create goals and metrics to measure them. Then they have at least one check-in meeting where a manager can answer questions and address any issues that have arisen. Finally, they have a review meeting where a manager offers more formal feedback. This gives the two of them an opportunity to adjust or set new goals, and the cycle begins again.

Continuous performance management vs. standard review processes

What sets continuous performance management apart from the standard performance review is its frequency. Most traditional performance reviews are conducted annually, while continuous performance management includes opportunities for feedback every few weeks. Frequent feedback ensures clarity on expectations so employees feel more confident in their contributions, and it gives them an opportunity to improve by acting on that feedback.

“89% of HR managers think that continuous performance management is more useful than traditional performance management.” — BetterWorks

Continuous performance management is also different from putting an employee on a performance improvement plan (PIP), since the former is a cadence of feedback for all employees, while the latter is meant to help struggling employees meet their goals. However, the structure of a PIP and a continuous performance management strategy can be very similar, since both of them rely on consistent feedback and 1:1s between manager and direct report. In fact, continuous performance management can serve as a good alternative to using PIPs.

Benefits of continuous performance management

Continuous performance management offers a variety of benefits. It can improve employee performance and engagement, and it helps foster transparency in larger performance reviews.

Improves employee performance

It’s hard to know how to improve without consistent feedback from your manager. If you only get structured feedback once a year, you could have spent the last year learning bad habits and turning in work that didn’t meet expectations without knowing it. On top of that, there’s just not enough time in one meeting to discuss everything that needs to be done.

Continuous performance management gives more opportunities for that feedback. Not only does that direct an employee’s growth, it also provides role clarification. That, alongside consistent, guided goal-setting, ensures that employees are working on the right things that affect the company’s bottom line.

Increases employee engagement

Frequent, meaningful feedback makes you feel like what you do matters. If you’re just submitting work and moving on, it can feel like you’re not contributing to the broader organization. That has an impact, especially on the younger generation of workers; most of Gen Z want to do meaningful work that keeps them engaged. 

“80% of employees who say they have received meaningful feedback in the past week are fully engaged.” — Gallup

In addition to constructive feedback, continuous performance management meetings are a great place to provide recognition for an employee’s good work. Recognition is another element that dramatically affects employee engagement; in a survey by Great Place to Work, 37% of respondents said they’d be motivated to do better work if they received personal recognition.

Fosters transparency

Continuous performance management provides a much more comprehensive record of employee growth and success than traditional performance reviews. Frequent goal-setting and reviewing means managers see the details of everything an employee has attempted and accomplished.

That’s incredibly important when it comes to those end-of-year overall reviews, which are often tied to promotion and compensation cycles. The more accurate record gives employees an opportunity to advocate for themselves and see that their hard work is rewarded with career growth. An employee using continuous performance management can go into an annual review confident that they are meeting the expectations set by their role and contributing to their company’s objectives.

Further reading: Why is Performance Management so Important?

How to implement the continuous performance management process

It’s one thing for a manager to set up a continuous performance management system with their direct reports. If you want to implement this system company-wide, though, HR needs to play a role.

Thankfully, the strategy for setting up continuous performance management isn’t too different from setting up any sort of performance management strategy, at least with regard to the decisions that need to be made.

You’ll need to decide on meeting cadences, create a universal goal-setting system, and make sure your managers are trained on how to provide effective feedback. Then, you’ll need to implement the change carefully, communicating openly, and giving people plenty of time to adjust.

1. Decide on meeting cadences

Meeting frequency is a difficult needle to thread. Too few check-in opportunities, and employees don’t get enough feedback. Too many, though, leaves people drowning in pointless meetings. There’s also the very real concern of Zoom fatigue.

There is plenty of research you can use as your baseline when it comes to determining meeting cadence. For example, according to research by TruQu, 76% of employees want feedback on their work at least once a month.

It might also be wise to allow for some wiggle room for individual managers; if they find that more or fewer meetings work for their team, they shouldn’t be punished for making that adjustment.

2. Create a goal-setting system

It’s important to make sure that your organization is aligned on how to create, set, and measure goals. Implementing a system like SMART goals, OKRs, or KPIs can help ensure consistency across the board.

It’s important to emphasize the scope of goals in a continuous performance management system. Whatever goals managers and direct reports are setting need to be reasonable within the timeframe of a review cycle. Using a goal-setting software like Leapsome or 15Five can be very helpful for keeping goals organized and measurable.

3. Train managers to provide effective feedback

Feedback is a learned skill. Anyone can offer their opinion, but it takes practice and training to give feedback that is effective and constructive. Unfortunately, it is a skill that many managers seem to be lacking. According to a report from OfficeVibe, 64% of employees think the feedback they get from their managers could be improved. 

Continuous performance management strategies rely heavily on the quality of a manager’s feedback for each employee’s success. As such, it’s important to make sure that those managers are well-trained before making the transition to any such system.

For tips on creating a training program that works, check out How to Create a Training Program for Effective Employees.

4. Communicate the process clearly

When making any major change to a company’s operational structure, it’s important to roll out the change slowly and with transparency. Simply dropping the plan on your managers’ laps and expecting them to implement it will only cause confusion. Communication and pacing are both key to rolling out continuous performance management.

When communicating this change, be clear about the steps and timeline of implementation. Explain the benefits of continuous performance management, and provide space to answer anyone’s questions or concerns.

Your communication strategy can’t end once the system is in place, either. Take time to gather feedback from managers and employees during the whole process, and make changes if necessary. 

Further reading: Rethinking the Performance Appraisal: 4 Ideas for Improving Consistency Across Your Company

The role of continuous performance management software

The first and arguably most important use of performance management software is that it connects and organizes data. Software is a great resource to make sure employee goals are in line with organizational objectives and paint a fuller picture of an employee’s impact. Such systems of connecting data also help keep the consistency and alignment across the whole business.

Software also takes some of the administrative labor off of HR, giving them time to work on performance management strategy. Moreover, many apps can schedule review and 1:1 cadences, send reminders, and provide templates of review documents. These tools also keep track of employee compensation and job title changes over time.

Finally, many performance management apps have AI tools that assist in your strategy. Some AI tools provide insights and suggested action plans based on performance data. Others prevent bias by checking feedback language used by managers and monitoring equity and fairness in growth and compensation to meet DEI goals.

Every performance management software is different, and some might suit your needs better than others. Check out our handy Performance Management Software Guide to help determine which software is best for your business.

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Benefits of recruiting globally

Despite large upfront costs and compliance risks associated with international expansion, companies can reap enormous benefits from hiring a global talent base. For example, you can increase productivity and reduce costs by hiring international workers in countries where labor is cheaper.

In addition, global talent brings unique perspectives to a company by virtue of their different lived experiences, cultures, and traditions. As a result, companies can garner unique solutions to problems and spark company innovation.

Ultimately, companies must compare the risks and rewards of hiring internationally before expanding globally, as a faulty global recruitment strategy could do more harm than good to the company’s brand.

Challenges of hiring employees internationally

In addition to competing labor laws, cultures, customs, and taxation regulations, companies will likely encounter numerous additional challenges that make hiring in another country difficult, including:

• Reconciling costs for setting up foreign entities or subsidiaries or working with a PEO or EOR.
• Budgeting effectively for international recruitment, including international job board postings, purchasing recruiting software or upgrading existing HR tech, and hiring more recruiters.
• Crafting equitable, competitive, and culturally appropriate global compensation and benefits strategies.
• Ensuring correct currency conversion rates and pay scales per country.
• Communicating with international teams across time zones.
• Understanding employee classification laws and other labor regulations that vary by country.
• Competing for talent at the local level and from other global companies.

6 Steps to hire internationally

Hiring an international employee requires an understanding of your goals, the hiring environment, your budget, and your structural options. Then, you must select candidates, evaluate them, narrow them down to your new-hire picks, and onboard them. And, the whole process must be legally and culturally appropriate to the new hire’s country. Here is a six-step guide to this process. 

1. Understand your goals 

When evaluating your international hiring goals, consider not only your business’s wants and needs, but the requirements surrounding international hiring. For example, determine if you need to build an entity within the hiring country. 

In addition, consider the candidates you wish to attract to your position. For example, would you rather hire full-time employees or contractors? What skills, qualifications and experience do you need in the candidate? 

Once you’ve decided how you want to go about hiring internationally and the types of candidates you need, create key performance indicators (KPIs) around your international hiring. One way to do so is defining goals that are measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). 

Many HR software offer tools to define and track such goals. For example, Rippling offers a SMART goal template. It then allows you to input your KPIs into the software and gather data to determine your success. You can even connect the goals to new-hire performance and 360-degree reviews to create definitive insights into the program’s success.

2. Research country hiring requirements

Once you have your goals defined, decide what steps are required to reach them and research how to go about completing those steps. For example, If you want to hire full-time international employees, determine the country in which you’ll hire and research the requirements for doing so.

Also research:

• Are you required to have an entity within the country before hiring?
• Does the country have requirements for base salaries, employee classification, benefits, holidays, severance pay, or employment practices (such as termination notice periods)?

To help you complete this research, many HR software offer tools and complementary services that complete this complex research for you. Some even automate their implementation. For example, Remote’s payroll services ensure local compliance across the globe. Others, like Rippling, auto-calculate and remit payroll taxes based on the global location of the employee or contractor.

3. Define your costs 

Understanding the costs associated with hiring a foreign employee can help you determine when and at what speed you can expand hiring in your chosen hiring countries. Typically, hiring internationally costs thousands of dollars extra in up-front costs. However, hiring an international employee to work for your company abroad will typically have a different cost than sponsoring an employee to work in the U.S. For example, Remote reports that if you hire a software engineer in Argentia with a USD salary of $60,000, you may pay up to an additional $15,731.76 in other mandatory employer costs such as employee pensions and Argentina’s social welfare fund. 

Here are some basic costs to consider when hiring remotely: 

• Talent acquisition: This includes what you may pay an employer of record (EOR) to help you find and evaluate candidates for hire. Or, you may need to upgrade your current recruitment and HR software to meet international hiring demands.
• Foreign entity: If you don’t plan to hire an EOR or similar service provider, consider the cost of setting up a foreign entity in your chosen country or countries, including architectural services and planning, work equipment, building materials, legal services, electricity and internet costs, property taxes, work permits, building labor and local-managerial labor, among other case-specific costs.
• Employee relocation: If you plan on relocating your new hire to the U.S., research the costs associated with doing so, For example, Visa applications and legal fees can add up to thousands of dollars. For example, New York based immigration law firm XU Law Group estimates these costs to be between $3,000 and $5,000 on average per new hire.
• Taxes: Countries have different payroll tax laws and payment requirements. In addition, many countries charge a permanent establishment tax for the privilege of having an ongoing business presence in the country.
• Employee benefits: Countries have varying expectations and laws regarding benefits packages. For example, some countries require a certain number of months for paid parental leave.
• Employee training programs: Consider investing in a cultural-awareness, diversity and/or language program to ensure your new hires are set up to be productive in their new roles and are comfortable enough to build relationships with existing employees.
• Security measures: If you plan for your international hires to work from their home countries remotely, consider the software, equipment and technology you must set up to ensure they can be productive while also securing your company’s data.

While this is a lot to consider, remember that there are tools and services available to help you knowledgeably and efficiently complete these calculations. If you want to go the do-it-yourself (DIY) route, Oyster offers a free employee cost calculator that shows you the baseline salary and benefit requirements of the countries in which you are hiring, and the fee if you choose to avail of its services.

Or, you can sign up for EOR services that allow you to hire internationally without building an entity in each country. These services calculate the costs for you. In addition, they offer tools to make compliance, hiring, and foreign employee management easy and, often, automated. EORs can also manage relevant calculations, paperwork, payroll setup, benefits setup, administration, and onboarding roadmaps. 

4. Decide your hiring structure 

Now that you know the costs of both building a structure within the countries in which you’re hiring or going through an EOR, determine which option is most affordable to your company. 

In addition, consider your company’s future global expansion plans. If you plan to hire from multiple countries, it may make more sense to hire an EOR so you don’t have to build an entity in each country. If you decide to go with an EOR service, decide whether you want a partner that is an owned-entity provider or whether they are partner-reliant.

5. Select and evaluate candidates

Construct a job post that defines the open position and offers culturally appropriate information about ideal-candidate qualifications. Your job post should be detailed so no communication barriers create false assumptions. 

In the post, walk the applicant through what documents they need to submit, including what information should be included on each one. Also ensure they know information that may be culturally driven, such as your company’s values. Using a recruitment agency within the country can help make this step culturally appropriate, including selecting appropriate recruiting channels. 

Next, evaluate the candidates. Review their resumes and CVs, their applications, and answers to all screening questions. Many recruitment software, like Rippling, offer applicant tracking systems to help you select and evaluate candidates who are interview-qualified.

At this point, set up interviews with your top candidates. Remember to consider their time zones as you do. In preparation for these interviews, research and set up an itinerary to align with the interview conventions of the candidate’s country and to ensure all interview questions are culturally and legally appropriate. If you work with an EOR or a recruitment agency, they can help you craft such questions. 

6. Hire candidates

Once you’ve selected a candidate, offer them the job and begin the onboarding process. It’s important to make this process applicable to the new hire’s culture. For example, craft your offer letter to include information your new hire will need to know. If you’ve hired an EOR, lean on its local HR experts for this step. 

In addition, provide new hires legal and tax documents that are relevant to international hiring, such as Form W-8, which exempts them from U.S. taxes. Also provide company contracts, handbooks, and immigration or tax documents pertinent to their hiring arrangements, locations, and roles. 

Finally, offer an onboarding schedule and checklist for an efficient and welcoming onboarding experience. As you do, carefully adhere to the workday norms of the new hire’s country. For example, many Latin American and some European countries close businesses for a couple of hours during the hottest portions of the afternoon, then reopen to finish the workday. Be sure to know such work norms so you can provide a culturally appropriate onboarding and work experience.

Free global hiring checklist

If you’re looking to hire staff in another country, our global hiring checklist ensures your company follows every step in a successful international talent search. Open the template in your preferred file format via one of the buttons below.

Download your free global hiring checklist template:

Considerations before hiring international employees

Before hiring in other countries, consider these factors to increase your chances of hiring success.

Recruitment

When hiring outside the U.S., you will first need to decide whether to hire independent contractors or full-time, benefits-eligible employees. This decision depends on the nature of the work that you want an international employee to perform and how quickly the you want to fill roles.

Contractors are defined differently based on the country. Therefore, in order to avoid legal issues, you have to ensure that international independent contractors are not legally defined as employees under foreign labor laws.

Otherwise, recruiting full-time employees internationally can take up to six times longer than doing so domestically, so don’t expect to fill roles right away.

However, there are some things you can do to accelerate the process. Global job boards like Indeed, Monster, and ZipRecruiter help companies find great talent because they have databases of candidates looking for work at international companies.

Some pre-employment testing software solutions like Predictive Index (PI) help companies assess the skills of international job candidates. PI includes assessments in over 70 languages, preventing language or cultural barriers from getting in the way of finding talent.

Also read: 9 Employee Recruitment Strategies to Improve Your Hiring Process

Payroll

When hiring internationally, U.S.-based companies face a number of challenges around paying employees accurately, timely, and securely.

Also read: How to Pay International Employees

To ensure accuracy, you must collect the right kind of information from new employees. Solutions like Rippling have customized forms that collect the necessary data from international employees. For example, a new employee in India will enter their Universal Account Number instead of their Social Security Number.

Investing in a solution that handles international payroll means employees get paid in a timely and secure manner. Relying on bank transfers or money portals like PayPal can spell delays, processing fees, and security threats from hackers.

Benefits administration

To compete for international talent and remain compliant, a U.S.-based company will have to adjust their benefits offerings and time-off policies for employees in other countries.

Depending on the country, there might be stipulations regarding the following benefits:

• Health and medical insurance.
• Paid holidays.
• Vacation, sick leave, and parental leave.
• Pension contributions.

In Ireland, for example, most employees are entitled to four weeks of paid leave each year. Also, while paid parental leave is not required by employers in the U.S., international employees, on the other hand, may be entitled to guaranteed paid leave that U.S. employers must grant. Birthing parents in Canada, for instance, are guaranteed at least 15 weeks of paid leave.

Compliance

Countries have their own unique labor laws that govern work hours, severance payments, workplace health and safety, and other work conditions. U.S. employers have a duty to investigate and adhere to these rules even if this conflicts with the company handbook or means employees in the U.S. receive different treatment.

To navigate the legal requirements of hiring employees in other countries, you can work with a professional employer organization (PEO) or global employment organization (GEO), also known as an employer of record (EOR). These entities provide on-the-ground resources and services to ensure a U.S.-based employer remains compliant when hiring international employees.

Culture

Hiring employees in other countries requires cultural competence, as it increases the chances of filling roles from abroad and maximizing the benefits of a diverse workforce.

International hiring trends

Statistics reveal the international hiring trends of 2024, including where talent is being sourced by U.S. companies and globally, the industries most likely to source international talent, and how global talent is likely to respond to the new opportunities going forward. These statistics can help to shed light on these trends:

Where are companies hiring?

• Brazil is rapidly rising in popularity in the international hiring space. It became the 4th most popular location for global hiring in 2021 and 2022, up from the 13th most popular just two years prior (2019). 
• According to Deel, a global payroll, onboarding, tax management, invoicing, compliance and HRIS platform, U.S.-based companies are hiring the fastest in Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Jamaica. 

What industries are hiring internationally?

• 77% of businesses are reporting difficulties in filling key roles, with the biggest talent gaps existing in the healthcare, consumer goods and services and information technology spaces. As such, companies that are most experiencing these talent gaps are looking abroad to find qualified talent. 

International employees’ response to global opportunities

• Not only are employees seeking international hiring opportunities, but international workers are increasingly seeking jobs within the U.S. The share of clicks on Indeed U.S. job postings has doubled since 2018 and 2019, according to Indeed’s 2024 U.S. Jobs and Hiring Trends Report.

Where do small businesses stand in the international hiring trend?

• Small businesses are also looking abroad to find top talent. In fact, in a Gusto survey of 500 small U.S-based businesses, 75% planned to increase their international hiring. 
• SMBs have varied reasons for this shift. 86% of them reported looking abroad to manage costs and 58% said they are doing so to bypass the talent shortage currently occurring within the U.S. market.
• Hiring international contractors can benefits small businesses as 84% of these workers have a university degree, with 40% having a master’s or higher, and 40% having an undergrad degree or its equivalent.
• These same small businesses report that understanding international hiring compliance is the biggest obstacle to their international hiring plans.
• The top countries where U.S.-based SMBs are hiring include the Philippines, Canada, and India.
• Overall, small businesses wanting to hire internationally can further control costs and increase their chances of finding the talent they need by hiring an EOR. Doing so allows them to bypass the expenses of building an entity in the countries in which they’d like to hire, lean on local compliance experts to avoid hefty compliance penalties, and lean on local HR experts to source the talent they currently lack.  

Check out our top global payroll solutions for recommended software that helps you keep track of data for domestic and international employees while remaining compliant. Then, browse our recruiting software guide to get started with a global hiring platform.

The post Hiring International Employees: Best Practices for 2024 appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

What is a BI Data Storage Solution?

Business intelligence (BI) solutions help business decision-makers plan for the best possible outcomes based on their organizational data. So, how can organizations properly store their data, so it is readily accessible for analysis and reporting? Additionally, how can you do that and still ensure it’s safe and secure from data loss or security breaches?

Business intelligence requires the use of raw data that is transformed into insights and actionable information, which would allow organizations to make data-driven decisions. Hence, organizations must store their BI data in accessible but secure locations.

Read on to learn how the best data storage solutions function to address the BI needs for organizations in 2023.

• Snowflake: Best for dynamic data sharing
• Oracle Autonomous Database: Best for automated management
• Google BigQuery: Best for real-time analytics
• IBM Enterprise Data Storage Solutions: Best for AI-driven data management
• AWS Amazon S3 – Best for cost-effectiveness

Also Read: 7 In-Demand Business Intelligence Jobs

Top 5 data storage solutions for BI

This cross-cloud data storage solution lets users access all of their data on one platform, including their structured, unstructured, and semi-structured data. Many different workloads can be supported through the system using the user’s choice of language, making it an accessible choice for a variety of users.

Oracle offers many different data solutions for business intelligence. The Autonomous Database is an excellent solution for organizations that desire fast data storage and processing with a low likelihood of human error. The cloud database is fully automated and formatted to support fast database provisioning, extracting, loading, and transforming data.

Google BigQuery is an enterprise data warehouse where organizations can store and analyze their data. The solution stores user’s data in a columnar storage format to support analytical queries. BigQuery automatically replicates its storage across multiple locations to provide high data availability.

IBM’s Enterprise Data Storage Solutions are integrated data storage platforms that act as a single source of truth for users within an organization. They offer data storage software solutions for simplified management and secure data protection.

Amazon Simple Storage Service is just one of Amazon’s cloud storage solutions. This object storage service is a scalable and secure infrastructure for organizations looking to virtually store and protect their data. Users can use the solution for structured and unstructured data to create and scale their own data lake in a secure environment.

AWS provides services for AI, HPC (high-performance computing), machine learning, and media data processing that users can run on their data lakes, enabling them to gain insights and information about their stored data. The solution also supports integrations with many third-party service providers, so users can easily analyze and transform their data.

With data lakes, users can remove data silos and gain insights by analyzing diverse datasets. Transferring data to the Amazon Simple Storage Service is simple with the AWS data transfer services for hybrid cloud storage, online data transfer, and offline data transfer.

What are the key features of BI data storage?

Space and scalability

Organizations often require lots of space to store their data, which can add up. However, utilizing cloud-based or hybrid solutions often enables users to purchase only the amount of data they need and scale up as necessary.

Accessibility

Data held in these storage solutions should be easily accessible for use in the organization’s other BI analysis, reporting, and visualization solutions. In order for organizations to gain real-time analysis and insights from their data, the storage solutions should be able to allow quick access to support the necessary data flow for these operations.

Management

The raw data that enters the BI data storage solutions may be unstructured and complex. Therefore, many data storage solutions provide ways for users to manage their data storage. Additionally, they will manage the data storage processing for users to ensure data is properly organized within the system.

Security

These storage solutions should come with features to protect organizations against the risk of data loss. They should also provide end-to-end encryption and appropriately meet the organization’s compliance standards.

What are the Benefits of a BI Data Storage Solution?

BI data storage solutions can provide many benefits to the organizations that use them, allowing for fast and safe data use within their analysis systems. To appropriately discuss the various benefits of data storage solutions, let’s look at some advantages that different types of BI data storage solutions can offer their users.

Data warehousing

Data warehousing solutions can provide users with more control over their data and can be a scalable option for BI data storage. They can help users maintain and clean up raw data from multiple disparate sources. The data is then stored within the data warehouses, which are an excellent interface for querying, transforming, and extracting data.

Data lakes

Data lakes can store all structured and unstructured data. This option is beneficial for performing machine learning, profiling, big data analysis, and real-time and predictive analytics on organizational data.

Cloud-based solutions

Cloud storage solutions are easily accessible for users at any place and any time, so long as they have internet access. They are also often an economical choice, as many cloud storage providers only allow users to pay for their required storage space. Storing organizational data in a single location through the cloud can also provide a single source of truth for users and lowers the likelihood of having duplicate datasets and data complexity.

Analytical databases

Analytical databases are great for querying, BI analysis, and managing Big Data. They let users benefit from fast query response times and can handle high volumes of data. They are also highly scalable, SQL-compatible, and allow for efficient data compression.

How are BI storage needs different from other storage needs?

BI operations depend upon software solutions to analyze data and transform it into actionable insights. The software needs to be able to access the data from the data storage solution. This data movement from the storage site into the BI solution is commonly referred to as the data flow. An organization’s BI data storage solution should support data flow into their analysis software solution.

Depending on the amount of data an organization needs to utilize, organizations may require much more storage space for their BI operations than they would need otherwise. Hence, scalability is a necessary feature of any BI data storage solution. Additionally, data stored within BI data storage solutions should be secure and address the appropriate compliance standards. This is because these locations will house important information that should not fall into the wrong hands.

The data stored within these solutions can come from multiple data sources and may be varying and complex. For this, storage solutions should also be able to organize and manage data in a way that allows it to be easily retrieved and used by other systems and for data queries.

Read more: Check out this article for more the top BI tools and solutions.

How we choose our top picks

At TechnologyAdvice, we assess a wide range of factors before selecting our top choices for a given category. 

To make our selections, we rely on our extensive research, product information, vendor websites, competitor research and first-hand experience. After those considerations, we then consider what makes a solution best for customer-specific needs.

For our Best Data Storage Solutions for BI list, we looked at 17 options before whittling them down to the five that cover all data storage needs for startups all the way up to enterprises.

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Businesses constantly seek innovative ways to understand, engage, and retain customers. AI-powered customer Relationship Management (CRM) software facilitates this by blending artificial intelligence and customer relationship management. This breakthrough addition to sales software promises to transform how companies interact with their clientele.

At its core, an AI-powered CRM system integrates artificial intelligence capabilities with traditional CRM functionalities. It’s not just about storing customer data anymore; it’s about analyzing, predicting, and automating real-time interactions. 

As AI is becoming an integral factor in the software we use daily, we decided to curate a list of our top picks for AI CRM solutions:

• HubSpot CRM: Best free AI CRM
• Freshsales: Best for AI-powered chatbot tools
• Pipedrive: Best for AI sales suggestions
• Zoho CRM: Best for broad AI capabilities
• Zendesk Sell: Best for AI lead management

Our choices for the top AI CRM software

HubSpot is a developer and marketer of software products for inbound marketing, sales, and customer service. Founded in 2006, the company’s software has been adopted by businesses worldwide to “attract, engage, and delight customers,” according to HubSpot. 

HubSpot’s journey began with a focus on inbound marketing, a strategy that aims to attract customers through content and interactions that are relevant and helpful. Over the years, the company expanded its product suite to include CRM, sales, and service hubs. The introduction of AI into its platform was a natural progression, given the increasing importance of data-driven decision-making in modern business.

Freshsales, developed by Freshworks, is a CRM solution that offers tools that streamline the sales process, from lead management to email and event tracking. 

Its chatbots are designed to engage customers in real time, providing immediate responses to queries, offering support, and nurturing leads around the clock. This ensures that businesses remain responsive to potential opportunities at all times. Freshsales boasts the inclusion of Freddy AI, a sophisticated artificial intelligence system. Freddy AI not only automates routine tasks but also delivers predictive insights, enhancing the efficiency and data-driven approach of the sales process. Its ability to access real-time customer data allows for personalized interactions, making each engagement more meaningful and tailored to individual customer needs.

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