The Record - Issue 19: Winter 2020

V I EWPO I NT T he technology landscape is changing very quickly as new solutions appear faster than ever. With this, businesses are facing an increasing amount of data about their customers and markets, which is creating a whole new area of business challenges. These companies not only need to learn how to manage this data, but if they want to better understand their customers, they also need to analyse this data for business insights. Data warehouse modernisation enables enter- prises using data warehouses to quickly meet these changing business requirements. However, traditional tools that allow users to copy data can be difficult to use and lack the automation that reduce the time, cost and risk associated with data warehousing projects. For those enterprises seek- ing leading modernisation solutions, Microsoft has an answer: Azure Synapse Analytics. According to Microsoft, the offering helps cus- tomers put their data to work more quickly, pro- ductively and securely by pulling together insights from all data sources, warehouses and analytics systems. It helps to modernise data warehouses by automatically creating end-to-end workflows, from ingesting data to generating reports. Using Azure Synapse Analytics, IT teams can quickly design, create and update data ware- houses; process large volumes of data in min- utes; reduce time, costs and risk by automatically generating code; use best practices to develop more effective business intelligence projects; and minimise dependence on developers. While the service has clear benefits for enter- prises, some companies still struggle to implement it. To combat this, we have developed a two-week deployment service to help businesses access the full benefits of Azure Synapse Analytics. Technology is continually changing and determining the right time to upgrade and modernise can be tricky. Adopting a new tech- nology too soon may result in churn within your organisation and the implementation of immature solutions that may not meet your needs. On the other hand, if you wait too long, you may miss out on market opportunities and productivity gains that new technology can bring to your business. To ensure businesses identify the right time to start their moderni- sation journeys, our implementation service includes an automated pre-migration assess- ment, a deployment and migration data model, and technical support throughout. As a partner, we provide all the technical capabilities needed in adopting new technologies and helping cus- tomers to achieve value for money. I strongly believe that migration to Azure Synapse Analytics not only offers the benefits of moving to platform-as-a-service cloud comput- ing, but also delivers a new user experience of working with data. Andrew Dakhov is managing director of Cloud Services Modernising the data warehouse By implementing Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics and solutions from Cloud Services, businesses can unlock new opportunities for their data ANDR EW DAKHOV : C LOUD S E R V I C E S “Determining the right time to upgrade and modernise can be tricky” 47