March 17, 2023 Data Analytics for Supply Chain Managers If you haven’t already seen Astrid Eira’s article in FinancesOnline, “14 Supply Chain Trends for 2022/2023: New Predictions To Watch Out For.” It provides great insights into current supply chain developments and challenges. Eira identifies analytics as the top technology priority in the supply chain industry, with 62% of organizations reporting limited visibility. Here… Read More
February 23, 2023 Embracing Customer Profiling and Data Management Defining exceptional service Organizations always aim to give their customers the best experiences. There are several interpretations of what constitutes good and excellent service, and sometimes these terms are used interchangeably. However, many companies fail to achieve exceptional service because they do not understand their customers. Delivering any level of service requires that we… Read More
February 21, 2023 9 Essential Blog Articles to Help You Know Your Customer Better Competition for customers is more intense than ever. And landing customers is only half the battle. Keeping them happy is the other half. Creating customers for life entails nurturing relationships and predicting changing needs, or risk losing customers to competitors. Innovative marketers understand the importance of knowing their customers so they can meet their… Read More
December 16, 2022 Make Your Marketing Campaigns More Successful This New Year The key to a successful marketing campaign is to reach customers at the right place, at the right time, with the right message. Traditional market segmentation used in campaigns aggregates prospective buyers into groups with common needs. Marketers hope that customers in the same segment will respond similarly to a marketing promotion. But will… Read More
November 16, 2022 The Relationship of Customer Experience and Cloud Data Integration, Explained With a myriad of customer experience (CX) tools available today, enterprises are flooded with options when it comes to the services they use to interact with customers. The challenge for businesses is sifting through the many data silos that these tools create. While CX tools are helpful for efficiency, they can create organizational blind… Read More
September 26, 2022 How to Get More Out of your Data Integration Strategy Conceptually, data integration sounds like a simple task: taking data from multiple sources and combining them to help inform business decision-making. This idea has existed since enterprises have been using datasets. However, as data continues exploding in both volume and complexity, enterprises can no longer rely on manual integration processes. Instead, they must use… Read More
July 28, 2021 Six Essential Data Preparation Steps for Analytics Abraham Lincoln might easily have been discussing data preparation steps for analytics when he said, “If I had 8 hours to chop down a tree, I would spend 6 sharpening my axe.” Spending 75% of the allotted time on preparation may seem like a lot. But in fact, most industry observers report that data… Read More
January 28, 2021 From Data Management to Decision Making for Empowerment Everyone in an organization makes decisions every day. They go through the process of identifying that a decision needs to be made, then gather data and relevant information from various sources to identify the choices that they can make. By Analyzing the data and other considerations based on their experience, they can make a… Read More
December 28, 2020 Four Data Analytics Predictions for 2021 – A Year to Recover and Accelerate In a year dominated by the dark cloud of the COVID-19 pandemic and the tragedies that ensued, we seem to be ending on a hopeful note. We saw the incredible power of human ingenuity, as not one but several vaccines have been developed at breakneck speed, surpassing even the most optimistic of expectations. We… Read More
December 15, 2020 Innovation and the Power of Data What is innovation? Innovation is doing something new that does not currently exist or something new that improves efficiency, effectiveness, cost, and/or creates a competitive advantage. A new method, process, product, or service can be considered an innovation. This also includes the integration of different markets with the utilization of a new product that… Read More
December 11, 2020 System Thinking to Run, Grow, and Transform the Business Systems thinking and the organization There are many ways to describe system thinking. We can say system thinking is a way of viewing or thinking about a system in terms of structure, patterns, cycles, and data exchanges. System thinking can also be thought of as a way of integrating a person into organizational flows… Read More
August 24, 2020 Why you Should be Focusing on Data Integration in the Middle of the COVID-19 Pandemic A few months ago, companies went into crisis mode, globally – figuring out how to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak. Since then, most organizations have overcome the initial shock and disruption and figured out how to adapt their workforce and business processes for a remote-work environment. When this started, the hope was that COVID-19… Read More
July 13, 2020 Why do you need a Data Hub? Are you still doing point-to-point integrations between your IT applications? If you are, please stop. It makes life difficult for your IT support staff, increases your overhead costs, and makes it harder for you to be agile and to evolve your integrations as business needs change. Instead, consider whether this is the right time… Read More
June 18, 2020 Don’t Just Move Data, Integrate it! If you are simply “lifting and shifting” data from one place to another, you are missing out on the power that a data integration platform can bring you. It is time to look beyond extract, transfer, load (ETL) from individual source systems, and expand your integrations to include multi-source joins that enable you to… Read More
June 15, 2020 Deploy and manage your integrations anywhere, anytime With Actian DataConnect Integration manager, you can deploy, configure, manage and repair your integrations anywhere - meaning if it resides in the cloud, on-prem, or even if it is embedded in your SaaS applications, anytime. The latest release of Actian DataConnect Integration manager includes an important set of enhancements to the Integration Manager API… Read More
April 16, 2020 In Healthcare, Connected Data Drives Holistic Patient Care Providing high-quality patient care is a team effort. Data is what enables healthcare professionals to understand the full scope of issues patients are facing, share diagnostic data, coordinate care across providers to ensure the best quality treatment recommendations, and follow-up care. Over the past decade, healthcare companies have drastically expanded their use of technology… Read More
December 9, 2019 Why Avalanche and DataConnect are Better Together … Part 3 How Avalanche and DataConnect work together to deliver an end-to-end data management solution Migrating to a cloud data warehouse makes strategic sense in the modern context of cloud services and digital transformation. Operationally, connecting disparate data sources into your cloud data warehouse, managing ongoing change in your IT environment, and delivering on the promises… Read More
December 2, 2019 Why Avalanche and DataConnect are Better Together … Part 2 Checklist: Critical Capabilities to Consider when Selecting a Data Integration Vendor That Enables Real-Time Analytics Use Cases Migrating to a cloud data warehouse makes strategic sense in the modern context of cloud services and digital transformation. Operationally, connecting disparate data sources into your cloud data warehouse, managing ongoing change in your IT environment, and… Read More
November 26, 2019 Why Avalanche and DataConnect are Better Together … Part 1 The Challenges of Connecting Disparate Data Sources and Migrating to a Cloud Data Warehouse Migrating to a cloud data warehouse makes strategic sense in the modern context of cloud services and digital transformation. Operationally, connecting disparate data sources into your cloud data warehouse, managing ongoing change in your IT environment, and delivering on the… Read More
September 3, 2019 How Data Integration Can Help Reduce Technical Debt Whenever you create, install or implement a new process, system or tool in your IT environment, you generate technical debt that must be supported and maintained for the life of the component. The impact of a single connections may not seem significant but when you consider, however, the thousands (if not millions) of components,… Read More
August 5, 2019 Considering Cloud Migration? First, Read This Checklist. Most modern companies have fully embraced the cloud as the preferred place to host the applications that their businesses use. Many new applications are “cloud-native” or are designed specifically for operating in the cloud, while many of the legacy applications that your company uses today may have been designed to run on hardware in… Read More
July 16, 2019 How to Address Integration Challenges with the Proliferation of IoT Devices During the past few years, IoT devices have evolved from being a consumer novelty to a core part of next-generation IT ecosystems for businesses of all sizes. IoT devices (such as smart watches, fitbits, home sensors, RFID point of sale scanners, heartbeat monitors, etc) have become attractive and useful because of their inexpensive price… Read More
July 10, 2019 4 Steps to Build a Capability-Based Data Integration Strategy Data integration will be one of the most important strategic challenges any company’s IT organization will face during the next few years. As rapidly evolving market environments and the drive for business agility compel company leaders to demand better integrated data during near-real time, IT executives and their architects will be faced with an… Read More
June 6, 2019 A Guide to Adopting Hybrid Integration Platform There are three key trends that have motivated a rapid yet radical transition in how organizations manage their information environments, namely: AS-A-SERVICE PLATFORMS, such as software as-a-service (SaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) environments, that allow organizations to transition core business and data management functionality to external service providers CLOUD COMPUTING, which provides a broad array… Read More
June 3, 2019 Digital Transformation Begins with Integration Almost every company is embarking on some sort of digital-transformation initiative – reshaping the relationships between employees and business processes and the technology that supports them. At the heart of any digitally transformed operation is data – data about your company’s operations, data about your customers and suppliers and data about your environment. What… Read More
May 22, 2019 Design and Manage Your Data Integrations More Effectively with the Latest Release of Actian DataConnect Managing data integrations across a large enterprise can be challenging, with the large numbers of end-points that must be integrated, transaction sets that must be monitored and security that must be constantly maintained. The latest release of Actian DataConnect makes the job of data integration much easier with enhanced tools to design your integrations… Read More
May 15, 2019 Connect SaaS Services Across Your Organization Increasingly, companies are embracing the use of SaaS and other cloud services to give their employees the feature-rich capabilities they require at an affordable cost. IT leaders are finding it much more efficient to buy IT services already built than to build and operate them internally. Buying SaaS solutions and other technology capabilities from… Read More
March 13, 2019 How a Hybrid Integration Platform Can Accelerate Data Migration Companies around the world are migrating their IT and business applications from on-premises data centers to cloud environments. The benefits of hosting apps in the cloud are clear and well understood; however, the process of data migration is much more challenging than one would think. Migrating data between different applications that are either located… Read More
March 12, 2019 Announcing the Availability of Actian DataConnect on AWS Marketplace We are excited to announce that Actian DataConnect suite of products are now available on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace. Actian DataConnect is a hybrid integration solution that enables you to quickly and easily design, deploy, and manage integrations on-premises, in the cloud, or in hybrid environments. DataConnect engineered to help you cost-effectively integrate diverse data… Read More
December 7, 2018 Data Integration: The Connective Tissue of Business People, products, processes and systems may come and go, but, regardless, of the structural components of your business, data is the one thing that brings all the pieces together, so you can perform as a cohesive unit. There is no question modern businesses are evolving quickly. Market opportunities are short-lived, technology advancements are happening… Read More
August 3, 2018 Actian DataConnect v11.3 Released Greetings Actian DataConnect Community, It’s my pleasure to announce the availability of Actian DataConnect version 11.3 and I’d like to introduce you to some amazing new features! Orchestration Invoker The new Orchestration Invoker process design component provides you with the ability to create more reliable and efficient integration templates by invoking combinations of smaller,… Read More
March 15, 2018 Upgrading to Actian DataConnect Version 9 to Version 11: A Better Journey About a year ago I wrote an article discussing upgrading from Actian DataConnect Version 9 to Version 10 (Actian DataConnect – The Conversion from v9 to v10 does not have to be scary!!) That article used the v9 or v10 Process object to use a script step to do the magic, with code that… Read More
March 12, 2018 Jolt Your Performance with Actian in Detroit and Cambridge This Week Interested in jolting your data analytics and database performance? Join Actian in two separate meetings this week in both Detroit, Michigan and Cambridge Massachusetts to talk about hybrid data, performance, analytics, and dataintegration: Tuesday, March 13: Come to the JOLT YOUR PERFORMANCE BREAKFAST between 7:30–9am at the award winning Apparatus Room Restaurant conveniently located… Read More
February 26, 2018 Get Ready for the Gartner Data & Analytics Summit 2018 in Grapevine, Texas The next big data and analytics conference is right around the corner with the Gartner Data & Analytics Summit, hosted at the Gaylord Texan Resort Hotel & Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas from March 5-8, 2018 and Actian will be present, both on the show floor and in a presentation. Emma McGrattan, SVP, Engineering, will… Read More
November 16, 2017 Actian Vector – Community Edition Launches on AWS Marketplace I’m excited to announce that Actian Vector - Community Edition is now available on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace. The Community Edition is delivered as an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) and is compatible with the AWS 1-Click launch experience. Why is this important for you as a developer? If you are a SQL… Read More
November 3, 2017 Reusable templates and macros for Actian’s Hybrid Integration Manager It's a pretty exciting time to be a User Experience Designer here at Actian! We are working on some great new features for Hybrid Integration Manager and I wanted to share with you two features that really promote reusability. Reusability is a reoccurring theme that we have heard from you, our customers, that we… Read More
June 20, 2017 Four Tips to Accelerate your ServiceNow integration using Actian PointConnect Deploying new applications is a fact of life in business. But oftentimes, a seemingly simple integration can quickly become more complex and costly than anticipated. If you are one of the thousands of organizations planning to use, or already using, ServiceNow, you’ll want to keep in mind a few things to make your investment… Read More
May 30, 2017 Predictions for the hybrid data landscape The Age of Data has arrived, with new data sources, targets and processing models proliferating madly across enterprises of all sizes. While data has never been more valuable to a business — it now informs the who, what, where, when and how of decision making — this new hybrid data landscape introduces new challenges.… Read More
January 18, 2023 Embracing Customer Profiling and Data Management Defining Exceptional Service Organizations always aim to give their customers the best experiences. There are several interpretations of what constitutes good and excellent service, and sometimes these terms are used interchangeably. However, many companies fail at achieving exceptional service because they do not understand their customers. Delivering any level of service requires that we… Read More
May 4, 2018 A moment of Zen for your resting IoT data on its journey to data nirvana Early in my career I studied Systems Engineering at night which is where I first came across the term IPO which is an acronym for Input-Processing-Output. My lecturer taught us every software function has three basic sequential steps, reading input data, processing that data and eventually outputting it. In a more complex system, such… Read More
February 12, 2018 See Actian at TDWI Las Vegas, February 12-14, 2018 Starting off the new year in style by hitting Las Vegas and attending the annual TDWI Conference focused on big data and analytics? Come see Actian at on the exhibit hall floor, Booth #205, Forum Ballroom of Caesar's Palace, at these times: Tuesday, February 13: 11:15am - 2:15pm and 5:00pm-7:00pm (Leadership Summit reception in… Read More
November 27, 2017 The Big Show: Visit Actian at AWS re:Invent 2017 in Las Vegas The largest cloud computing conference of 2017 is now here in AWS re:Invent and it’s taking over Las Vegas in a big way. An estimated 40,000 engineers, product leads, marketers, technical architects, and expert users from around the world will be descending on The Strip, attending keynotes, bootcamps, demos, hackathons, and in-depth hands-on training… Read More
May 11, 2017 Introducing Actian DataConnect 11 We are proud to introduce the latest release of Actian DataConnect. We listened to our customers and adopted a 'back to basics' approach with the new product architecture. A lightweight desktop installation for design and a flexible SDK and CLI for run-time are the core components which will plug into any existing job management… Read More