What is the main function of a data warehouse?

The primary function of a data warehouse is to store data from various sources for analysis. A data warehouse is specifically designed to consolidate and organize large amounts of data from disparate systems, enabling efficient querying and reporting. This structured environment allows businesses to perform complex data analysis and generate insights that can drive decision-making.

By bringing together data from different operational systems—such as transactional databases and external data sources—a data warehouse provides a comprehensive view of the business's activities. This allows organizations to analyze trends over time, conduct historical reporting, and perform various types of analytical tasks without impacting the performance of operational systems.

In contrast, the other options focus on functionalities that do not align with the primary role of a data warehouse. For instance, switching data between operational systems refers to data integration processes rather than long-term storage and analysis. Securing sensitive information pertains to cybersecurity measures, and creating backup copies is related to data redundancy and recovery, which are more aligned with database management practices. Thus, the focus of a data warehouse remains firmly on storing and enabling analysis of integrated data for business intelligence purposes.