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Manager at Protiviti
MSP
Good prediction modeling and reporting features, but customer support should be improved
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is its scalability."
  • "The technical support should be better in terms of their knowledge, and they should be more customer-friendly."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use Amazon Redshift for prediction modeling and business reporting.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is its scalability.

What needs improvement?

The technical support should be better in terms of their knowledge, and they should be more customer-friendly.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Amazon Redshift for approximately one year.

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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a stable product.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is very good, and it is one of the best features of this solution.

We have approximately 10 people who use it, four of which are engineers. At this point, we do not have plans to increase the number of users.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. I do not recall, however, how long it took to deploy.

What other advice do I have?

In summary, this is a good solution and I recommend it. That said, the customer support needs to be improved.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1752741 - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Analyst at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
MSP
Has improved the performance of queries
Pros and Cons
  • "The initial setup is easy."
  • "The solution has four maintenance windows so, when it comes to stability, I think it would be better to decrease their number."

What is our primary use case?

We are using the latest version of Amazon Redshift, although I cannot state which one. It is actually updated automatically, which prevents us from tracking it.

We use Amazon Redshift as our data warehouse solution. We use it for collecting and analyzing our data. We store our data for analytics in the solution.

How has it helped my organization?

The solution has improved the performance of our queries.

What is most valuable?

We like that the solution is a scalable, column-store database. We are completely talking about an analytic database.

What needs improvement?

I cannot state which features of the solution are in need of improvement, since those which we make use of have not changed.

The solution has four maintenance windows so, when it comes to stability, I think it would be better to decrease their number.

I rate the solution as an eight out of ten because it is not 100 percent, as there is much service-related maintenance required. It would be nice to see support for the usual LTP features, such as those involving traditional processing.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution has four maintenance windows so, when it comes to stability, I think it would be better to decrease their number.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable.

We use the solution extensively, as part of our daily work.

The decision to increase our usage would depend on our business needs.

How are customer service and support?

I cannot comment on technical support, as I have never had contact with them.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Prior to going with Amazon Redshift, I used Azure Data Warehouse and Google BigQuery.

The decision to go with Amazon Redshift was reached by the CTO, so that, in respect of the data warehouse, the entire environment is set up in Amazon.

I feel Amazon to be better than the other solutions we worked with.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is easy. Just one or two clicks are needed to set up the solution.

What about the implementation team?

We did not make use of a consultant or integrator.

Not much staff is required to maintain the solution.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I am not aware of the licensing terms.

What other advice do I have?

I am just the user and we make use of the solution.

The solution is deployed solely on the cloud.

I believe there are around 20 people making use of the solution in our environment.

While the solution is not appropriate for every case in which usage must be evaluated, it can be used for sure.

I rate Amazon Redshift as an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
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Amazon Redshift
April 2025
Learn what your peers think about Amazon Redshift. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2025.
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reviewer937020 - PeerSpot reviewer
Financial Performance Manager at a retailer with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Stable and easy to migrate to the could but data uploading could be faster
Pros and Cons
  • "Changing from local servers to the cloud is very easy. It's so nice not to have to worry about physical servers."
  • "The refreshment rate of data reaching Redshift from other sources should be faster."

What is our primary use case?

Our data warehouse is Redshift now.

What is most valuable?

Overall, I'm satisfied with the solution so far, and, from an accounting perspective, it works well for my tasks and duties. 

The product is very stable. 

Changing from local servers to the cloud is very easy. It's so nice not to have to worry about physical servers. 

What needs improvement?

We need more AWS applications. They have some solutions from Amazon that can manage performance, however, we will need something that can also manage financial reporting, visualization, and analytics - instead of having to go to other solutions like Tableau or Power BI. If they can offer comparable options, we'd like to be able to choose all AWS solutions instead of other platforms. 

The refreshment rate of data reaching Redshift from other sources should be faster.

It could be more efficient during tasks such as data refreshing or uploading. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for about a year or so. It hasn't been too long just yet.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable. It's better than OWC, as a technology. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable.

How are customer service and technical support?

I cannot speak to how helpful technical support is as this is not my area of expertise here. I'm not directly connected with AWS. That said, it is my understanding that they are doing a pretty good job with our own technical team and they have been helpful.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used ODBC before to maintain our tables. Oracle ODBC was used as a server, as a data warehouse environment.

Changing to Redshift was a big change for us. However, after a while, we get used to it and it is okay now as it's coming together under a bigger picture of a framework, as a bigger framework. We are going to keep everything in the cloud and moving to AWS and we will put everything there and manage it as a framework going forward.

How was the initial setup?

I'm not using it day in, day out and I did not handle the initial setup. There is a team involved with that side of the product. I'm using it for the closing of the accounting cycle every month. I don't handle implementation tasks. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I cannot speak to the pricing. I don't handle billing or payments. 

What other advice do I have?

We're customers and end-users.

While I cannot speak to the exact version number, my understanding is that we are using the most up-to-date version of the solution. 

I'd advise those considering the solution to go for AWS products. They are the best. You will have more synergy between your software. It's nice not having multi-software working on the technology itself. If you can, use as many genuine Amazon products as possible and integrate them together. 

Overall, I would rate the product at a seven out of ten. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
DBA at Kimetrics
Real User
Costs less than Oracle Cloud or Microsoft Azure solutions
Pros and Cons
  • "Amazon Redshift is very fast. It has really good response times. It's very user-friendly."
  • "There is some missing functionality and sometimes it's so difficult to work in. We need to convert these functionalities using VACUUM inside Amazon Redshift and then it causes some complexity."

What is most valuable?

Amazon Redshift is very fast. It has really good response times. It's very user-friendly.

What needs improvement?

Redshift is a multi-tier engine that works like a calculator. There is some missing functionality and sometimes it's so difficult to work in. We need to convert these functionalities using VACUUM inside Amazon Redshift and then it causes some complexity. Sometimes I'd like for them to support some special features or some special installations because we need automatic populations. I would like to see more programming outside of the cloud. I would like to see more functionalities under JSON files. the only functionality that they have now with JSON is reports. I would also like to see other data sources like MongoDB.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used Amazon Redshift for three years. I use the latest version because it is on Amazon's public cloud.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The management of the dates for what we can deliver to it, it's always specific to the form that's defined to Amazon Redshift.

How are customer service and technical support?

I have used their technical support only a few times. Before talking to support I usually try to troubleshoot things myself and I'm usually able to resolve any issues. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

In the past year, we have used Azure, but the committee has chosen Amazon Redshift because it is better than Azure for our company needs. We have grown around Amazon Redshift and other AWS solutions.

How was the initial setup?

Amazon Redshift is not as straightforward as other AWS tools but it is not that difficult.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Amazon Redshift costs less than Oracle Cloud or Microsoft Azure.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I started using Amazon Redshift because I started working for this company that was working with both Azure and Amazon. The company eventually moved all to Amazon. I wasn't sure why they didn't continue to use Azure. My experience was more with Microsoft technology so I prefer Azure. But, there are some interesting features in Amazon Redshift that works better. I have also used Oracle Cloud.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend Amazon Redshift as it is part of the AWS platform and they are the biggest in the world.

I would give Amazon Redshift a rating of eight on a scale of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user576456 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager BI Development at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
Vendor
The fact that it stores data using a columnar approach allows us to use columns in join conditions.

What is most valuable?

Redshift gives extremely fast response involving large tables. This is the most important feature I look for in data warehouse solutions. Often you came across use cases where it is not possible to distribute data on a certain column, yet you need this column in join conditions. Redshift stores data using a columnar approach, which is useful for data aggregation.

All this at an extremely low price makes it possible for small to medium sized organizations to use Redshift’s power to get business insights.

How has it helped my organization?

One of my clients required large amounts of data but had a low budget. Amazon Redshift was the perfect choice for my client. We joined two tables containing billions of rows each and got results back in 27 seconds with a relatively small cluster of nodes.

What needs improvement?

Amazon should bring more SQL functions that are required in data warehouse implementations. It lacks SQL functions for complex data processing. A very small example is recursive queries. However, Amazon is developing the product at a fast pace and bringing new features with every release.

For how long have I used the solution?

I’ve been using Redshift for more than two years. I created one traditional data warehouse with 3-tier architecture and one big data solution.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have not really had stability problems. The product is mature and can be utilized for production systems.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Since Redshift is on AWS cloud, scalability is not an issue. With a few clicks, cluster size can be increased or reduced. This is useful especially when you expect a large amount of data processing temporarily. For example, on Black Friday retail organizations expect large amounts of data flow/processing. Redshift can be scaled up for few days to accommodate the surge of data and then scaled back to normal cluster size to save OPEX.

How are customer service and technical support?

The AWS team gives special focus to customer support. This is a very big benefit of going to the cloud. You get a reply from AWS in small time frame.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I worked on Teradata and IBM solutions. Redshift gives performance similar to these solutions and costs a fraction of the amount.

How was the initial setup?

Your Redshift can be up and running with few clicks and in less than 5 minutes. A big benefit when you shift to cloud.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We analyzed Microsoft, Oracle, AWS RDS and Mango DB for our requirements.

What other advice do I have?

Redshift is based on PostgreSQL and adds MPP/columnar features to make it a data warehouse product. It is very easy for developers to adopt this solution. Your existing team can easily work on Redshift with no extra cost of learning.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Consultant
High performance, efficient, and helpful support
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of Amazon Redshift are that its fast and efficient. We have lots of TBs of data and it's very fast."
  • "Amazon Redshift could improve the user interface support."

What is our primary use case?

We are using Amazon Redshift services to query the data and to perform certain data science operations on that data, such as applying a machine learning algorithm or doing an analysis.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of Amazon Redshift are that its fast and efficient. We have lots of TBs of data and it's very fast.

What needs improvement?

Amazon Redshift could improve the user interface support.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Amazon Redshift for approximately one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Amazon Redshift is a stable solution. However, there are many times the environment configuration changes very quickly without any intimidation and it creates a lot of problems for running our codes.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of Amazon Redshift is good. The solution is best suited for larger-scale businesses because the price is affordable for them and they need the complexity.

How are customer service and support?

The support from Amazon Redshift is very good.

How was the initial setup?

Amazon Redshift is somewhat complex to deploy. The process could improve.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Amazon Redshift is an expensive solution. Larger organizations can afford this solution, but smaller businesses would struggle to afford it.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Amazon Redshift an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
PeerSpot user
it_user869871 - PeerSpot reviewer
Principal Consultant at Inawisdom
User
Easy to load and reload data. Retaining data long-term should be cheaper.
Pros and Cons
  • "The ability to reload data multiple times at different times."
  • "Should be made available across zones, like other Multi-AZ solutions."

What is our primary use case?

  • Storing and querying data in near real time.
  • Loading millions of raw CSV records.
  • Running data comparisons and queries, then shutting it all down all within a few hours, once a week.

How has it helped my organization?

Easy to load and reload data.

What is most valuable?

  • Fast load times 
  • Flexibility in column definitions
  • The ability to reload data multiple times at different times.

What needs improvement?

  • It would be nice if it was a bit cheaper to retain data long-term. 
  • Should be made available across zones, like other Multi-AZ solutions.

For how long have I used the solution?

Less than one year.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Per hour pricing is helpful to keep the costs of a pilot down, but long-term retention is expensive.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Senior Engineer, Big-Data/Data-Warehousing at a manufacturing company with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
We create different-sized clusters and orchestrate them using the SDK.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features to us are: speed, DML, the fact that it is cloud-based, the management console, and Boto3.

Because we are dealing with a lot of data, speed is always important. Redshift is blistering fast when doing "deep" copies and inserts. Conceptually, my data-transformation pipelines are a series of proprietary "waves" that leverage Redshift's DML/"deep" copy/insert strengths. Doing all this in the cloud allows us to easily test alternatives. We create different sized Redshift clusters and orchestrate them by using the SDK (Python Boto3). We go beyond the traditional DWH to "infrastructure-as-software".

How has it helped my organization?

Redshift has helped to transform Makerbot into a data-driven company.

What needs improvement?

Integrating database security/access rights with AWS IAM would be great. I would also like to see more DML features that might aid in processing unstructured or log-file data. This would allow us to avoid having to use EMR/Hadoop.

For how long have I used the solution?

We’ve used Amazon Redshift for 3 years.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

We did not encounter any deployment issues.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We did not encounter any issues with stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We did not encounter any issues with scalability.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

I think the customer services is adequate.

Technical Support:

The level of technical support is good.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We tried prior solutions, but they had limited or no scalability/agility.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward.

What was our ROI?

It took less than a year for the product to pay for itself.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Regarding pricing and licensing, I advise to start small and have your developers/DBA use table compression and partitioning from the start.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We have used different options over the last 20 years. We found AWS Redshift to be the leader in capability and provides an ecosystem of related services from AWS, many of which are free.

What other advice do I have?

My advice to other is to prototype, prototype, prototype! Everything depends on your data and what you need to do to it. No two projects are the same.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
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