May 2023 Summaries

There was a significant increase in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and Finance and Operations adoption between 2019 and 2021, driven by the COVID pandemic. However, migration to the cloud has left long-lasting scars on companies due to orphaned data, limited storage, and challenges with historical reporting and customizations. Companies are struggling to upgrade their systems with customizations, and many are opting for out-of-the-box ISV-approved applications instead. Storage is a major issue, as cloud implementations have limited storage capacity, and businesses must plan carefully to archive older records and set up data warehouses. Historical reporting becomes challenging when dealing with multiple repositories, and customers need to plan upfront to minimize disruptions. Customizations also pose a challenge, as customers must decide what data to store for reporting and what can be discarded. The cloud migration process has left many companies facing significant pain points that require careful planning and execution.

The latest release of CData Sync includes significant improvements to the user interface (UX/UI) and overall user experience, with features such as streamlined navigation, improved accessibility, and enhanced enterprise-level performance capabilities. These updates were informed by extensive customer feedback and research, which involved involving 95% of the customer base in the development process. The new interface has received overwhelmingly positive feedback from customers, who praise its ease of use and organization. Future plans include releasing additional enterprise-level features to support large volumes of data, including custom labels and governance controls. Overall, CData Sync is striving to make its tool more intuitive, fast, and easy to navigate, allowing users to spend less time in the tool and more time driving value in their organization.

Hybrid cloud offers an ideal model for driving digital transformation by allowing businesses to maintain control of operational data while leveraging the public cloud for insights and analytics, and on-premises applications for critical business initiatives. Digital transformation investments are expected to reach $6.8 trillion between 2020 and 2023, with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 16.5% for 2022-2024. The key elements driving digital transformation adoption include rising marketing outreach investments and changing consumer intelligence landscapes that impact business agility. To succeed in this environment, businesses need to collect, analyze, and incorporate customer data into their operations and processes, while also adapting to the shift to a self-directed customer journey where consumers seek personalized and relevant content. Digital transformation is essential for businesses to innovate, improve business performance, power innovation, deliver insights, and ensure positive business outcomes. The business model shapes digital transformation strategies and vice versa, with new revenue streams emerging through data monetization, subscription-based services, e-commerce, new products and services, optimized distribution channels, personalization and customization, agile operations, and collaborative ecosystems. Hybrid cloud models that incorporate both on-premises infrastructure and cloud-based resources have become the enterprise norm, enabling businesses to design a unique configuration that works for their specific needs.

CData Sync has released its latest update with significant improvements to its user interface, connectivity capabilities, and schema support. The new UI features a modern design aesthetic, improved navigation, and enhanced analytics. The tool now supports Google AlloyDB as a destination, offers better schema support for Kafka, Oracle, and Google Analytics 4, and provides incremental replication from Amazon S3. These updates aim to simplify data integration and improve efficiency, allowing users to replicate their data throughout their on-prem and cloud ecosystems in a repeatable, cost-effective, and secure manner.

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) offers new features and functionality that allow users to accurately track user journeys and experiences on company websites. However, achieving a holistic view of data often requires integrating data from multiple sources, which can be complex and costly. To simplify this process, CData Connect Cloud provides predefined reports that transform GA4 multidimensional data into a relational data view, making it easier to analyze and produce meaningful reports. These predefined reports narrow down the scope of multidimensional data, exposing specific dimensions and measures, and aggregating those dimensions by default. With CData's tool, users can accelerate their analytics initiatives with flexible cloud connectivity to hundreds of data sources, including GA4, and perform holistic reporting from their favorite BI or reporting tools.