Real-time streaming data and analytics isn’t just a technology endeavor—it also requires a transformation in business thinking. “Adoption of streaming analytics not only requires a technological shift but leads to changes in business operations,” said Mukherjee. As more companies move to the cloud and have access to distributed compute capacity and fully managed services, there will be more organizations adopting streaming analytics techniques. But while the technology has become more accessible, there’s a bigger change-management problem that organizations face when they implement real-time streaming-data analytics solutions. For example, a retailer can analyze real-time customer-demand patterns but its supply chain needs business processes to be in a position to act on those insights, said Mukherjee. Similarly, a bank may be able to analyze real-time transaction data and identify potential risks, but it also needs to have a process to mitigate that danger. “If your business processes are not set up to take those insights and act on them in real time, your organization will not benefit. There needs to be a data culture shift and an understanding at all levels of the organization to successfully implement this technology.”
Many companies “still lack sophistication when it comes to understanding what they need to do to achieve their performance and scale goals and drive their real-time business processes,” said Kleinfeld. “However, they are beginning to realize that companies that move slowly will be left behind and they need to get real-time business figured out if they want to stay competitive.”
Database As A Service
With the cloud comes rapid growth in demand for database-as-a-service (DBaaS) offerings. “Companies in every industry are looking to consume database as a service to capture all the traditional benefits of cloud computing, as well as to offload operational overhead to database experts so engineering resources can stay focused on driving value elsewhere,” said Asya Kamsky, principal developer advocate at MongoDB. With DBaaS, they can more readily “automate database administration tasks such as database configuration, infrastructure provisioning, patching, scaling events, and doing backups so they can focus on delivering new applications and features to their customers far more quickly.”
DBaaS also allows organizations to be strategic about where their data lives. For example, companies can take advantage of Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and Amazon Web Services, and, if an application has a huge userbase in Australia, data for that application can be stored nearby in order to offer a low-latency user experience, Kamsky said. “If data privacy regulations demand that certain users’ data stays in Germany, for example, it’s very easy to manage that. Those are two very significant business challenges facing global organizations today.”
DBaaS has additional benefits. For the business, DBaaS enables the offloading of database administration tasks, thereby “freeing up technical resources to focus on more important efforts that will actually drive value for a business,” said Kamsky. “DBaaS also provides peace of mind that experts in database management are handling security configurations and optimizations, meaning business leaders are getting the most out of their data management strategies. As a result, their engineering teams will be more productive and will be able to bring new applications and product features to market at a much faster rate.”