How to Meet Today’s Database Performance Challenges

With the rise of big data, companies need to process more data than ever before. Not only does this large volume of data create a challenge, but the speed at which the data enters the business makes it difficult to manage and process.

As massive amounts of data course into the data center, they can tax your memory and bandwidth resources. If your processing speeds aren’t fast enough, crippling bottlenecks can develop. When the vital flow of information is clogged, your company can’t reach valuable insights in time to maintain a competitive edge.

To keep up with new sources of data like social media, mobile, and Internet of Things (IoT), infrastructure managers need to rethink their approach to datacenter architecture so they can meet the need for speed.

The Data Floodgates Have Opened

The sources that data companies use to make decisions create constant streams of information. Here’s a look into some of the wellsprings of business information and what value they contribute:

Seeing Inside the Business

Your company generates business intelligence through internal systems like customer relations management (CRM) and enterprise resource management (ERP) systems. ERP systems give a complete view of business processes and the financial state of your company. CRM systems channel your company’s customer interactions history so you can make better decisions when offering and delivering products and services.

Connecting Machines

With the rise of IoT, companies are challenged by an even greater influx of operations information. Researchers at Gartner predict the number of connected devices will rise to 20.8 billion by 2020. IoT gives your business a fuller picture of how it is performing internally. For example, sensors and beacons in factory equipment show how efficient a production process is and where problems might develop.

Sensors on equipment in the field can be used to schedule predictive maintenance so you can complete projects on time without a hitch. To benefit from these IoT sensors, your business needs to keep them active constantly, creating relentless streams of data.

Picturing the Customer

Valuable data comes from outside sources as well. Social media has become a force to reckon with. The Digital in 2017 Global Overview found that there are 599 million social media users in the Americas. Companies that want to personalize their customer interactions need to follow social media conversations.

These conversational threads contain detailed information about customer sentiment that can be used to customize offers or even develop new products. Social media users comment on products and services and even make referrals. Interactions such as likes, thumbs up, and retweets give valuable information about how customers perceive your brand.

Many of these social media interactions take place on mobile devices. These devices provide information like location that can be used to target push notifications. For example, when customers near a storefront, they can be sent an offer for special discounts at the store through SMS. Mobile interactions with your website can be used to gather more information about customer needs and preferences.

Turning Chaos Into Order

These streams of valuable data are coming in from many sources. Customers interact with multiple social media channels daily, from Facebook to Instagram to Snapchat.

This information needs to be combined with data generated internally by CRM and ERP systems or by connected machines in the field and in factories. To make informed decisions based on a complete view of the business and customer, companies must find a way to quickly bring fragmented sources of data together.

Building a Souped-up Data Center

Keeping up with the velocity and variety of big data is possible. The key is pairing the right hardware with the right software for maximum performance and efficiency. Since 2015, IBM POWER has been supporting SAP HANA, making it easier for your business to handle the demands of big data.

SAP HANA’s in-memory computing allows companies to store and process data quicker than going to disk. Data can easily be drawn from disparate systems across the business to be centralized and consolidated. Running SAP HANA on IBM POWER enhances the speed of in-memory data processing by providing more threads per core than x86 servers. Faster throughput rates mean you can accommodate greater data flows for quicker speed to insights.

Analytics capabilities are already built into SAP HANA. However, POWER allows SAP HANA users to take this further by harnessing cognitive capabilities. Instead of being overwhelmed by data, master it.

Originally published at convergeone.com on June 12, 2017.