How has it helped my organization?
The idea behind data virtualization is to create an abstract layer for easy consumption by BI tools such as MicroStrategy, Tableau, Power BI, and others. This abstraction layer aims to avoid the complexity of directly accessing data sources, thus simplifying data integration. Denodo facilitates this by mediating between different data platforms like Teradata, cloud data warehouses, Oracle databases, and others, unifying them under a common virtual layer. This enables seamless access to unified data across diverse platforms and technologies.
Furthermore, Denodo includes an optimization engine that enhances performance through techniques such as static and dynamic optimization, cost-based optimization, and caching mechanisms. These optimizations help improve query performance, reduce memory usage, and enhance overall system efficiency. This optimization capability is a key feature of Denodo and other data virtualization tools, enabling efficient data access and integration across heterogeneous environments.
What is most valuable?
Denodo provides several server connectivity options with other tools such as ODPC and UDPC. It supports API integrations, allowing integration with a wide range of databases using different technologies, including NoSQL and relational databases. For databases that do not have a universal connector, Denodo allows users to create custom JDBC connectors. Additionally, it supports integration with websites using KPI connectors on-premises, offering a variety of connector options.
What needs improvement?
They need to invest more in the optimization engine. It will be a fantastic tool for them to enhance automation and improve the GUI interface, especially for Integration, as some tools are still not fully integrated, such as Iceberg. Batch processing is very good but not yet fully integrated. Therefore, they should focus on improving the GUI interface, enhancing cloud capabilities, and integrating modern technologies like Iceberg. Additionally, they should continue refining the optimization engine itself.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Denodo for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's a very stable tool. We faced problems related to vulnerability checks from the operating system itself, which were quickly resolved. It's robust and stable; we haven't encountered any major issues with it. We did need to allocate additional memory to handle our data volume.
I rate the solution’s stability a nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Denodo is scalable and supports load balancers for achieving scalability through multiple load balancing techniques. In our production environment, we have thirty-two cores distributed across four machines, each with eight cores. These machines are managed using a load balancer tool to ensure scalability and efficient resource allocation.
I rate the solution’s scalability an eight out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
They provide extensive documentation which covers administration, development, and support comprehensively, providing detailed explanations for every step. In contrast, other data virtualization solutions like Data Virtualization and IBM Data Virtualization often lack such detailed documentation, which is crucial for implementing solutions to various problems. Additionally, Denodo provides excellent support. They have a dedicated and knowledgeable staff who are readily available when needed.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have experience working with telco data visualization and analytics. I've utilized Denodo for data integration and analytics in telecommunications. Additionally, I've worked with mobility and IoT technologies for revenue assurance and management. I have proficiency in the Microsoft Stack, including SSIS, as well as experience with AWS Cloud services.
How was the initial setup?
The installation is not extensive. It takes about one week. The entire project deployment, including development, usually spans around six months. For instance, development itself might take approximately three to four months, with the remaining time allocated to post-production tests, use case implementations, and other activities.
What was our ROI?
They have achieved significant improvements in KPIs, such as customer churn, reducing it by approximately eight to twelve percent. This is an actual figure. They have also increased customer loyalty by the same margin.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Denodo is expensive.
I rate the product’s pricing a six out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive.
What other advice do I have?
The main motivation was their use of multiple technologies such as SQL servers and Oracle, spanning nearly twenty-five different databases. This multitude of data sources and information spread across various databases necessitated robust data integration and visualization capabilities. Denodo played a crucial role in enabling the bank to unify and visualize information from these disparate schemas and technologies. This achievement significantly enhanced their ability to derive comprehensive insights from the diverse datasets. Numerous insights and use cases have already been successfully implemented across various departments within the bank. These initiatives have encompassed areas like predictive analytics, customer behavior analysis, and the development of machine learning models for HR and revenue forecasting.
Denodo's products help reduce time to market for new products and promotions, ensuring they reach customers promptly. This prevents revenue loss, especially at the customer and complaint levels, among other benefits.
Denodo has three layers of security. It is integrated with Active Directory for authentication. It supports single sign-on within the organization, particularly in the banking sector, where it is a leader. This integration allows for auditing and monitoring of all staff members. This forms the first layer of security. The second layer involves fine-grained access control over specific tables, views, and even columns. Denodo provides specific controls to determine who can access which tables and columns at a granular level. The third layer consists of generic governance rules governing user groups such as development, operations, and administration teams. For instance, developers may have read-write access, administrators have full administrative privileges, and operations staff have predefined access rights. These rules govern the authorization and authentication processes within Denodo.
Denodo is not an expert in AI nor does it propose AI-specific use cases. However, its abstraction layer can inspire ideas related to AI, such as predictive analytics for customer behavior, complaints analysis, churn prediction, forecasting future revenue trends, and identifying new customer benefits for a bank's portfolio, for example.
It provide a six-month warranty post-production, followed by five years of product support. This includes updates, new batches, upgrades, and more. One admin and two development team are required for maintainance.
Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
*Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: