Challenges and Benefits of Deploying Big Data Analytics in the Cloud for Business Intelligence

Cloud computing and big data analytics are, without a doubt, two of the most important technologies to enter the mainstream IT industry in recent years. Surprisingly, the two technologies are coming together to deliver powerful results and benefits for businesses. Cloud computing is already changing the way IT services are provided by so called cloud companies and how businesses and users interact with IT resources. Big Data is a data analysis methodology enables by recent advances in information and communications technology. However, big data analysis requires a huge amount of computing resources making adoption costs of big data technology is not affordable for many small to medium enterprises. In this paper, we outline the the benefits and challenges involved in deploying big data analytics through cloud computing. We argue that cloud computing can support the storage and computing requirements of big data analytics. We discuss how the consolidation of these two dominant technologies can enhance the process of big data mining enabling businesses to improve decision-making processes. We also highlight the issues and risks that should be addressed when using a so called CLaaS, cloud-based service model.