By Shantan Kethireddy, VP Customer Solutions
It’s an age-old debate in technology: build a custom software solution on top of an open-source platform or choose an existing proprietary option that solves a unique business challenge with off-the-shelf capabilities? In my career with over 20 years of experience building data solutions with companies as large as IBM, this debate feels particularly urgent right now in the dynamic world of real-time analytics. Whether in AdTech or telecommunications, data is only getting bigger and more complex while the business challenges to analyze it quickly are only getting more competitive.
It’s this competition that has driven recent waves of innovation including Ocient’s Compute Adjacent Storage Architecture®. In order to demonstrate our industry-leading solution, we’ve just released a new benchmark comparison using the TPC Flattened Star-Schema Benchmark. This comparison shows Ocient’s 2x performance improvement over the open-source real-time analytics platform, Druid, at 30% of the price.
But for any data engineering team looking to build or buy a real-time analytics platform, it’s worth looking past the numbers for a moment to understand the importance of proving ROI before any code is written or platform is purchased.
While open-source solutions can offer flexibility and cost savings, they often lack the comprehensive support needed to ensure seamless operation and optimal performance. For example, the open-source version of Druid does not include services or support. Apache offers a support forum for a fee, or users can work with third-party service providers. With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at what it takes to architect a modern real-time analytics solution and why having a partner to prove cost savings upfront and establish a clear support plan for post-go-live is so critical.
Financial ROI is the Killer Feature
Before any implementation, Ocient’s Customer Solutions and Workload Services team works closely with customers to prove the viability of the Ocient solution. This involves understanding the unique requirements of the business and demonstrating how the platform can meet those needs effectively.
From pilot to production, our team oversees the entire implementation process.
As you can read in our recent case study with the data giant Dun & Bradstreet, our customers’ ROIs are achieved in months, not years. We have pioneered the EINSTEIN Proven Practices (EP2) Methodology to rapidly prove – through demonstrations, financial P&Ls, implementation, and operationalization – the business, technical, financial ROI to stakeholders prior to their investment and any mention of production support.
On the other end of the spectrum, we’ve recently heard from customers that the open-source version of Druid lacks dedicated support, and online community support forums have increasingly gone quiet. This leaves users with two main options:
- Figure it out themselves: Without community guidance, this can be daunting, especially since some of the free open-source community boards disappeared in March 2024.
- Seek third-party support: This can be hit or miss, with varying levels of expertise and response times.
Priceless: Ocient Management Services
If you’re reading this blog you don’t have to be reminded that real-time analytics platforms get complex very quickly. They require continuous monitoring, performance tuning, and troubleshooting. Data engineers must juggle numerous tasks, from managing data ingestion pipelines to ensuring query performance. Without expert guidance before implementation, production deployments quickly become overwhelming.
Our two levels of support are tailored to ease customers’ administrative burdens and ensure a smooth and efficient experience.
- Streamlined System Administration. After go-live, Ocient Management Services takes over, streamlining system administration and fundamental operations. This frees up your data engineers to focus on strategic initiatives rather than routine maintenance tasks.
- Remote Monitoring and 24×7 Support. Our management services include remote monitoring and 24×7 support for critical issues. This ensures that any problems are addressed promptly, minimizing downtime and maintaining high performance.
Choosing Ocient means choosing a partner committed to proving value from day one and providing unmatched support throughout the lifecycle of your real-time analytics solution. Our comprehensive approach—from pre-production proof to continuous post-implementation support—ensures that businesses can confidently leverage their data to drive growth and innovation.
Learn more about the benchmark here and I encourage you to get in touch for a demo of Ocient today.