Plain-English definition
What Data Lake means.
A data lake stores data in its raw, unprocessed form - structured tables, unstructured documents, images, logs, and more. Unlike a data warehouse which requires data to be structured before loading, a data lake accepts everything first and structures it later when needed for analysis. This is useful when you are not sure how you will use data yet but want to capture it.
Why operators care
Where it shows up in the business.
For most SMBs, a data warehouse is the better starting point because you already know what questions you want to answer. But understanding data lakes helps you evaluate vendor pitches and avoid over-engineering your data infrastructure.