If your business is in an industry that deals with huge amounts of data everyday—banking, commerce, retail, aviation, and logistics are good examples—you’ve probably already heard of change data capture. The more data you need to process, the more important change data capture (or CDC) becomes.
Simply put, CDC is a software solution used within data servers that allows one to track and keep a record of incremental loads, for purposes of identifying new data and data that was either updated or deleted since the last incremental load.
Change Data Capture Means Efficiency and Accuracy
CDC makes the transfer of data more efficient, especially when used to augment an existing data movement tool. ETL—extract, transform, load—for example, is like a pipeline that always has data flowing through it. After extraction, the ETL tool will hold the entire data set as it is being transformed before loading it to the target. This “hold up” may cause the ETL pipeline to burst, since it can only expand up to a certain point to hold huge volumes of data.
Augmented with CDC, data managers can allow the data to trickle into the ETL pipeline, updating and deleting as necessary, so that the system can receive and transform information in smaller batches throughout the day. This reduces costs due to the smaller data storage space required, even as it saves time in the processing and transfer of data.
More importantly, using CDC ensures that the latest version of the data is always available. There is minimal downtime because the update and transfer process is quicker, which means near real-time replication is possible. Errors can also be addressed much faster, drastically reducing the cases of using or showing incorrect data to managers, analysts, and even end-users.
Informed Business Decisions
Efficient and accurate data processing and transfer affect an entire business organization. A huge amount of data becomes meaningless if even the smallest detail proves to be incorrect. With CDC in place, decision makers can be equipped with the latest business intelligence they need, both from within their organization and about the industry they are in, and make moves that steer their organization toward achieving their goals.
An adequate understanding of data and its structures also helps these leaders to develop strategies, personnel improvement programs, and analytical tools to further grow their business and maintain a competitive advantage.
By looking at CDC as an integral part of business operations, members of the organization can begin to appreciate the importance of accurate information that enables decision-making. It also allows individual growth by providing a broader view of how one piece of correct (or incorrect) data can affect performance statistics, market projections, and goal setting.
Conclusion
Change data capture only highlights even more the importance of being adaptable in the fast-paced world of business. Efficient and accurate of data processing allows leaders to be more dynamic in developing their strategies and in identifying suitable opportunities based on actionable information.
