July 2024 Summaries

The text discusses the challenges posed by having multiple semantic layers and business logic spread across cloud data warehouses, transformations, and applications. It highlights how a universal semantic layer can address these issues by providing a single source of truth for all data definitions and metrics, ensuring consistency, governance, and efficient reuse of modeled data across various applications. The text also emphasizes the benefits of implementing such a layer, including enhanced query performance, cost savings, and simplified data access and exploration for everyone. It concludes by encouraging organizations to adopt Cube Cloud's universal semantic layer to unlock the full potential of their data and gain a competitive edge in today's data-driven world.

Cube Cloud has introduced an update to its Monitoring Integrations feature, making it available for all customers on the Enterprise plan regardless of their infrastructure choice (dedicated or shared). This feature allows exporting logs and metrics to external monitoring tools, leveraging existing observability stacks. It uses Vector, an open-source tool supporting various destinations like Amazon CloudWatch, Datadog, Grafana Cloud, New Relic, etc. Monitoring Integrations is available as an add-on for Enterprise and Enterprise Premier plan users with varying data export limits per month.

Embedded analytics allows for seamless integration of data visualization, reporting, and analytical capabilities directly into applications, enhancing user experience, providing real-time insights, increasing engagement, and offering a competitive advantage. Hosted reports provide consistency across an organization but offer limited insight. Business Intelligence (BI) applications can be embedded using various methods such as IFrame embedding, API-based integration, white-labeling, and utilizing embedded BI platforms. Embeddable analytic libraries enable developers to build analytic features into operational applications without the need for extensive coding. AI-powered chatbots provide a user-friendly way to embed insights in an application. To successfully integrate embedded analytics, organizations should define clear objectives, focus on user experience, unify data models, enforce data access controls, optimize for performance, and plan for scalability.

insideAI NEWS features an article on "The Rise of Embedded Analytics and Embedded AI: Proportional Business Value at Last?" The publication covers comprehensive AI technology and implementation strategies across various industries, including healthcare, security, financial services, automation, and agriculture. The article discusses how curated data experiences through embedded analytics and AI can help businesses by providing access to data where it is needed most within the context of workflows. A universal semantic layer is necessary for organizations to deliver trusted embedded analytics and AI, which can be used in both internal and external applications. Examples of internal processes that can benefit from these technologies include better employee experiences, decision-making in context, and improved workflows and processes.

Cube Cloud's MDX API is a strategic enhancement designed for enterprise customers, enabling direct connections from Excel to Cube Cloud using MDX queries. This integration allows users with Excel skills to perform sophisticated data analysis in a familiar environment and visualize data in pivot tables. The native MDX API enhances the universal semantic layer by enabling seamless integration with Excel's analytical tools, allowing users to leverage Excel's powerful data analysis features while maintaining a connection to Cube’s robust data infrastructure. With this feature, analysts can directly query large datasets through the universal semantic layer, eliminating the need for pre-processing and ensuring real-time data access. The MDX API in Cube Cloud unlocks advanced analytical capabilities, empowering users to perform more sophisticated and meaningful data analysis.

Cube has announced the public preview of its latest API endpoint, MDX (MultiDimensional eXpression), a query language designed for retrieving data from multidimensional OLAP cube technologies. MDX is similar to SQL but is oriented towards querying multidimensional cubes and retrieving aggregate measure values. The new MDX endpoint aims to restore the direct connection to Excel capability that was lost or impaired by customers who migrated to more modern cloud data warehouse or lakehouse technologies. Cube will act as the OLAP engine, allowing users to point their MDX-speaking tools at the new endpoint within Cube Cloud. This feature is currently in public preview and interested users can contact Cube for more information.

Cube has introduced a new feature, Audit Log, which collects, stores, and displays security-related events within a Cube Cloud account. This feature is useful for maintaining compliance with industry regulations and standards such as NIST SP 800-53, HIPAA, FedRAMP, PCI DSS, GDPR, ISO 27001, and others. Audit Log can also be used during incident investigations and to enforce accountability among semantic layer administrators. The feature provides a user interface that displays events in a table-like format and allows users to download event data for offline analysis or use with external applications. Audit Log is available as an add-on on the Enterprise Premier tier, consuming 4 CCU per hour and providing event retention for the last 30 days.

Cube Cloud offers various infrastructure options to cater to different business needs, scalability goals, and security and compliance requirements. These include shared infrastructure, dedicated infrastructure, dedicated infrastructure with customer-supplied pre-aggregation storage (CSPS), and bring your own cloud (BYOC). Shared infrastructure is a cost-effective option for organizations seeking ease of use and lower costs but may not be ideal for those requiring more control or data residency. Dedicated infrastructure offers enhanced performance, increased security, and enterprise capabilities but comes at a higher cost. Dedicated infrastructure with CSPS allows organizations to leverage Cube's expertise while maintaining control over sensitive data, offering flexibility and greater security and compliance. BYOC provides unmatched security and compliance for technically proficient teams but requires significant in-house expertise and increased responsibilities. Choosing the right infrastructure option depends on a thorough understanding of business requirements, IT capabilities, and long-term goals.