June 2021 Summaries

CData Arc V21 Released` is the latest release of CData Arc, a platform for business orchestration and integration. This version extends custom connectivity, links entire cloud application ecosystems, and simplifies user management for scalable self-service integrations. It includes new enterprise capabilities such as simplified Salesforce connectivity, roles-based security & access controls, Single Sign-On (SSO), and more. The CData Arc 2021 release provides flexible and custom integration at users' fingertips, combined with the ease and security of its intuitive workflow builder and high-performance architecture. This latest version is available for download for all subscription customers with a current license.

Freeing data from silos and making it accessible to stakeholders can greatly benefit organizations by providing valuable insights. Organizations must invest in data connectivity infrastructure to achieve this goal. To make the most of their data, they need to extend analytics data access to analysts and decision-makers. Various solutions are available to address this challenge, including embedded real-time data connectors, data connectivity platforms for analytics teams and enterprises, and data warehousing for analytics. Pre-built data connectors can simplify the process of building custom BI integrations, while drivers like ODBC, JDBC, and ADO.NET provide virtualized data access directly from platforms. Connectivity platforms offer configurable integrations that let team members access multiple data sources in one place, and data warehousing provides a centralized data warehouse for business intelligence. CData offers solutions to address various analytics data access needs, providing everything needed for business intelligence and data analytics integration.

CData Connect 2021 has been released with powerful new features including query federation, custom schemas, and derived views. Query federation enables users to easily join data from different sources in real-time, while derived views allow users to define "virtual tables" that can be executed on-demand. Custom schemas enable customers to create their own schema for APIs with multiple dimensions, making it easier to access dynamic resources like custom reports. The new features aim to simplify how dispersed data assets are used across analytics and data management, providing a more seamless experience for data engineering and analytics teams.

The text discusses the challenges of working with large datasets in Power BI and how CData Connectors can help overcome these issues. With increasingly demanding lines of business, organizations are struggling to access their data to gain actionable insights into performance and business health. Traditional data import options no longer work for datasets measuring 10s to 100s of Gigabytes, making it impractical to build reports on large datasets within the warehouse or database. CData Connectors provide critical capabilities that enable real-time analytics and reporting on large datasets, using features such as DirectQuery, which allows users to query live data from a data source instead of importing data into the local environment. This enables users to bypass platform-specific dataset caps, reflect underlying changes in the data in near real-time, and build reports, charts, and dashboards over very large datasets. The text also highlights the benefits of using CData Power BI Connectors for Google BigQuery, including enabling live access to data directly in Power BI reports, charts, and dashboards, and leveraging server-side computational capabilities to speed up reporting and free up client-side resources.

The text discusses the importance of data warehousing in businesses to make informed decisions, and how it can help overcome data fragmentation challenges. It highlights six types of data warehouse tools: ETL tools, data virtualization platforms, data modeling tools, data warehouse appliances, OLAP tools, and query and reporting tools. The text also explains how to centralize data into a data warehouse and connect analytics tools to the data warehouse using CData Software's drivers. Additionally, it discusses the benefits of using third-party data connectors, such as performance improvement, and provides example use cases and a list of the six best data warehousing software for 2024.

In the second part of our Drivers in Focus series, we explore scenarios where data replication rather than real-time connection provides more value, such as analyzing historical data or combining accounting data with other sources. We discuss customer solutions using CData technologies to replicate and consolidate their accounting data, empowering analytics teams to gain deeper insights into their data. Consolidating enterprise data creates a 360-degree view of the business, granting deeper insights into historical data and data stored across multiple systems. CData technologies help small organizations overcome data integration challenges when scaling operations, and provide a low-cost solution for rapid time-to-value. By replicating accounting data to a database or data warehouse, customers can easily connect their accounting data to advanced analytics and reporting capabilities of third-party tools.

CData has been recognized as one of the top companies that matter most in data by Database Trends & Applications (DBTA) magazine in 2021. The publication chose CData Software for its innovative and effective data solution, which delivers value to customers. With a focus on digital transformation and data management, CData helps organizations extract actionable insights from their data while dealing with growing data growth and new security risks. As the global data creation rate is expected to compound annually at 23% by 2025, companies must choose the right data technology stack that meets their unique needs. CData simplifies connectivity between applications and data sources, making it easy to unlock the strategic value of data. The company's solutions help organizations overcome complex data fragmentation and connectivity challenges.

Traditional APIs are limited in providing a seamless data experience, forcing customers to become integrators and developers, lack consistency across applications and industries, and can overwhelm customers with multiple applications and databases. In contrast, SQL-based connectivity offers a robust and well-documented syntax that surfaces the structure and capabilities of data sources, enabling complex queries and seamless integration, making it an indispensable tool for developers looking to enhance API connectivity and interactivity within their applications. Embedded connectivity provides off-the-shelf connectors that simplify how customers integrate with the platform, eliminating the need for coding or maintenance work, while standards-based drivers simplify integration processes by providing a universal data layer that abstracts differences between APIs, enabling easy integrations across multiple applications and databases.

The ability to make sense of the data and turn it into actionable insight requires back-end analysis and evaluation, as well as creating a data-and-analytics-centric culture within an organization. Gartner predicts that by 2022, 90% of corporate strategies will explicitly mention information as a critical enterprise asset, but only 20% of analytics insights will deliver business outcomes. Data should be at the center of any solid business decision, and leaders must emphasize the use of analytics with their teams to drive performance improvements. Storytelling is key to driving the adoption of analytics by making data relatable in real-world applications. The marketing technology stack can provide actionable insights, but many marketers struggle to effectively use the data from these tools due to a lack of integration and design around customer needs. Organizations must prioritize analytics and focus on data outcomes when designing their systems to benefit the business.

To address the limitations of pre-built accounting platform data analytics capabilities, companies are leveraging CData connectivity software to integrate their financial data with preferred analytics tools in real-time. This enables seamless, repeatable access to live data for critical business insights and actionable reporting. By using CData's connectivity technologies, organizations can simplify integration and development processes, providing value to clients through custom applications built on top of live accounting data. Standards-based SQL access to accounting APIs facilitates fast-tracking development of custom reporting and analytics platforms, empowering analysts and consultants to get more value from their financial data.

CData Software is a leading provider of data access and connectivity solutions that streamline data access and insulate customers from complex integrations with on-premise or cloud databases, SaaS, APIs, NoSQL, and Big Data. The company offers various data connectors, ETL/ELT solutions, cloud and API connectivity options, OEM and custom driver development, and data visualization tools to address major data management challenges facing organizations today.

The latest CData 2021 driver refresh brings enhanced metadata caching, faster data access, and expanded connectivity across over 250 supported data sources. The new release includes improved drivers for Python, ADO.NET, ODBC, and other platforms, with features such as automatic local caching of metadata, support for Entity Framework Core version 5.0, and even faster ODBC performance. Additionally, the release includes simplified Tableau integration, support for PowerShell 7, BizTalk Server 2020, and FireDac components, as well as new capabilities in CData Sync 2021, including ELT SQL Transformations, SQL Server Change Tracking, Oracle Flashback Query, Load Folder, User Roles, and new destinations. The new drivers are available for immediate download, with a free 30-day trial option for customers to test the connectivity and performance of their applications.