Elasticsearch is positioned as an optimal solution for handling read-side queries in financial services and other sectors, especially in the context of increasing data volumes and the limitations of traditional RDBMS and OLAP systems. It excels as a system of engagement, complementing systems of record by offloading complex queries and enhancing performance without burdening existing infrastructures. This is particularly advantageous in scenarios like mainframe offloading, where regulations like PSD2 in Open Banking demand sophisticated data access and search capabilities. Elasticsearch's ability to scale horizontally and perform multilingual full-text searches makes it ideal for applications such as customer 360 views, fraud detection, and e-commerce. By integrating Elasticsearch in a dual database architecture, organizations can achieve increased efficiency, cost savings, and improved data accessibility, as demonstrated by Rabobank's experience of handling billions of transactions without additional mainframe operations. Elastic's offerings, including App Search and Enterprise Search, provide versatile solutions for diverse search needs, making complex queries more manageable and cost-effective.