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What is a data warehouse and why do companies use one?
A data warehouse is a central database designed for reporting and analysis, where data from different systems such as accounting, CRM and e-commerce is stored together in a consistent structure. Companies use one so everyone reports from the same cleaned, combined data rather than from scattered exports.
Operational systems are built to run transactions, not to answer questions across the whole business. A warehouse copies data from those systems, standardises it and keeps history, so you can compare sales with ad spend or stock with demand.
Modern cloud warehouses charge mainly for storage and queries used, so a small company can often run one at modest cost. The harder work is modelling the data correctly, not the technology itself.
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