Industry research estimates the global data migration industry at about $12 billion and is poised to grow at an annual growth rate of 7 percent in the coming years.
In today’s hyper-connected, instantaneous business landscape, data is the driving factor which powers applications, processes and systems.
Regardless of industry, most modern day businesses rely on data to make decisions, generate insights and serve consumers.
As the utility, value and quantum of data grows continuously, the need for scalable, flexible and robust database management solutions becomes mission critical for businesses.
This leads to massive costs and expenses for maintaining, updating and scaling infrastructure required to support massive data volume and compute capabilities.
To modernize their technology and database management systems, organizations are always on the lookout of reducing licensing costs, improving process efficiency and reducing the upcharges for infrastructure.
To address these needs, legacy businesses and enterprises are embracing modern-day database management and warehousing solutions like Snowflake.
If you are considering the process of moving data from Oracle to Snowflake, it is important to keep certain aspects in mind, especially if you want to ensure a seamless migration.
In this article, we will discuss in detail how to prepare before attempting database migration from one platform to another.
Why migrate to Snowflake
One of the leading cloud based solutions for data warehousing, Snowflake is a popular choice for bringing together data storage, compute and services under one roof.
Compared to legacy, on-premise solutions like Oracle, Snowflake is built from the ground up to be cloud native to enable companies to run powerful data models and applications.
Here are some of the key advantages of using Snowflake:
- High performance efficiency:
Snowflake is known for its high-performing, unique architecture which allows for better optimization of resources and queries.
In fact, Snowflake can reduce query compilation time by up to 20% as compared to legacy data platforms.
The best part is that Snowflake continues to improve its efficiency with frequent feature and product updates.
- Advanced analytics capabilities:
Legacy data infrastructures are often plagued with problems like data silos, unoptimized data storage and inefficient data pipelines.
On the other hand, Snowflake offers an uninterrupted data pipeline with built-in features such as parallel processing and columnar data to generate analytics faster.
For data-driven businesses, using Snowflake can significantly save time for analytical workloads to derive real-time, actionable business insights.
- Easier to scale
The scalability challenges of on-premise, legacy database management systems are one of their main disadvantages, especially in today’s agile business landscape.
Snowflake offers an infinitely scalable, automatic concurrency capability which allows businesses to scale up or down to meet their data volumes.
Imagine having the flexibility to switch up infrastructure and compute on-demand to meet the evolving needs of your systems and applications.
- Better cost efficiency
Legacy database platforms and solutions like Oracle are highly inefficient when it comes to costs.
On top of licensing costs, businesses have to pay for additional maintenance and support costs.
Comparing this to Snowflake, you only pay for the storage and computation you use and avoid any unwanted expenses.
In addition to the above benefits, Snowflake is preferred due to its support for a wide array of data types and robust sharing features which enable seamless collaboration.
Now that you have learned about the pros of using Snowflake as compared to Oracle, you might be tempted to make the switch and supercharge your data architecture.
However, transitioning from Oracle to Snowflake is not as straightforward and streamlined as you might hope.
Common challenges in migrating to Snowflake
Before transitioning your database to Snowflake, it is important to factor in the common challenges faced during, before or after the migration process.
- Information architecture challenges: Snowflake’s multi-cluster architecture is different from Oracle and it handles data differently.
While Oracle uses a monolithic architecture, Snowflake uses a dynamic architecture, this difference in information architecture requires reconciliation and rebuilding.
- Migrating data pipelines: Oracle’s database follows an archaic system architecture which uses legacy data types, schema and storage.
Migrating large datasets and extracting data from legacy storage is a time-consuming and resource intensive task.
The Oracle database is a legacy platform and Snowflake is a modern day technology, thus migrating from one to another requires deep technical knowledge and careful planning.
You do not want to risk business continuity or lose critical data during or after the migration. Maintaining data security and regulatory compliance is another concern for businesses.
However, there are easier and more efficient solutions to tackle the common challenges and ensure a secure, speedy and non-disruptive migration process.
Using Bryteflow for Snowflake migration
Migrating to Snowflake can be an empowering business move – if you are ready to embrace the power of Snowflake, Bryteflow can help you achieve your migration goals.
With Bryteflow’s no-code, fully automated platform, you can ensure a secure and seamless data migration process without investing in complex plug-ins and resource intensive tools.
Bryteflow offers real-time data replication that helps you save costs, resources and minimize the potential risks and challenges associated with migration.
Get in touch to book a demo and learn how Bryteflow is the right solution for your needs.
