4 Database Management Trends for 2022
New innovations and emerging trends are transforming the database management landscape and it is vital that organizations adapt to embrace these advancements. The future of database management lies in AI, big data analytics and cloud technology and will see enterprises change their database management systems to gain maximum benefit and provide the services their customers demand via the internet.
If you work in database management, or you are looking to break into this field, this blog is for you. Here, we will introduce the major trends that are happening now and shaping the future of database management across the globe.
Open-source databases
As they are free to use and open to anybody, open-source databases allow companies of all sizes to benefit from technological advancements without incurring huge costs.
Open-source databases evolve rapidly and are designed to minimize obstacles to adoption and are particularly useful for app developers who operate on cloud-based platforms. They address the developing need for organizations to analyze data from multiple new applications. This is crucial as, while data is more readily available than ever before, if it can’t be analyzed it is of no practical use.
This type of database is widely used to develop and distribute business-critical software and has proved to be particularly successful in unlocking innovative ideas and problem-solving abilities. It is a good option for small enterprises looking to benefit from a DBMS as it is cost-effective and enables you to start small and grow as your business requires. As open-source does not rely on licenses based on fees paid, small businesses can benefit from the same features as multinational giants.
The most common types of open-source database are:
- Key-value databases that store key and value data in their memory for quick lookup
- Document databases that store document information
- Wide-column databases which are broadly similar to key-value databases but include vast columns of data and are particularly useful when analyzing big datasets
- Graph databases that examine the relationships that link data and enable speedy execution of complex queries across multiple connections
Cloud-based DBMS
Cloud services are huge right now and many businesses are looking to take their DBMS off-premise and into the cloud. Some are even adopting a hybrid approach, with some cloud-based and some on-premise database management.
The increase in demand for cloud-based DBMS is largely driven by a shift towards software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications. One of the key benefits of this approach is that it eliminates the huge upfront costs of on-premise database management. It is also, arguably, more reliable as your DBMS is effectively outsourced to a provider with the best facilities in the business and appropriate systems in place to ensure downtime is minimized.
Additionally, a cloud-based DBMS makes data more easily accessible – particularly for distributed teams or other collaborative projects carried out by people who are in different parts of the world.
Cloud-based database management systems are arguably more inflexible than some of the alternatives owing to the fact that they offer fewer features. But for some users, this is an advantage. If you only require a limited number of functions to operate your business, more complex systems can be cumbersome and admin-heavy.
Database security
Following some pretty high-profile data breaches in recent years (including 700 million LinkedIn users having their personal data sold online), database security is high on the agenda for most database managers.
Security has always been a consideration for database administrators, but the recent breaches have made it a primary concern. As a result, increased database security has become a trending issue.
Deploying a DBMS offers greater security as database management is effectively outsourced to a provider with the best facilities in the business and appropriate systems in place to prevent breaches and ensure downtime is minimized.
As online activity becomes more and more part of daily life, it is inevitable that criminals will become more sophisticated, and data will be at greater risk. Waiting for them to get ahead of you in terms of technical capabilities is not an option.
Business leaders across the world are realizing the importance of acting now to implement additional security features to protect data. A data breach is costly in a financial sense but also from a reputational point of view. Coming back from a huge data loss is a long, hard road – and there is no guarantee you will even make it.
DbOps
DBOps (Database Operations) delivers continuous integration and deployment capabilities for SQL databases. Deployment functions are typically easy to use and can be tracked to make sure each script is only deployed once and in the correct order implement them in a repeatable way over any previous versions.
In essence, it is the formalization of best practice and standard operating procedures that enable effective management of several databases and the data held in them. This is still an emerging field but is expected to explode onto the scene this year as more and more businesses realize its importance in securely and effectively managing the huge amount of data held for compliance and commercial purposes.
In-memory databases
In-memory databases store data and return it when requested. However, they differ from traditional databases that are designed to hold data for the long term. Instead, in-memory databases only store information for a short period of time. This means they don’t have to perform disk read/write operations in order to return data.
An in-memory database reads data directly from the memory, making it significantly quicker. They are often used as an efficient cache to take some of the burden off the main database. This frees up the main database for its essential functions and enhances the performance of both databases by sharing the workload.
By making the entire database management more efficient, in-memory databases offer improved scalability. The greater the amount of traffic in a system, the more evident the benefits of in-memory databases become. Whereas you might expect systems to slow down as they are required to work harder and process more data, in-memory databases ensure speed and efficiency remain optimized.
In turn, this makes systems more reliable and prevents surges in use causing disruption.
Graph databases
Graph database stores nodes and relationships as opposed to tables and documents. Data is stored in a similar way to how you might brainstorm ideas on a whiteboard and without limiting it to a pre-defined model. This makes graph databases far more flexible than alternative database types.
More traditional databases perform lookups and navigate costly join operations to identify relationships within networks. While this system works, it is quite inefficient and not really adequate for the interconnected world we are moving closer to.
Graph databases have been designed to optimize the process of navigating vast amounts of data, with relationships stored natively alongside nodes to ensure greater levels of flexibility and efficiency.
Database as a Service (DBaaS)
DBaaS is a cloud-based offering that allows users to benefit from highly efficient database services without the costs associated with buying and maintaining such a system.
It is based on self-service, simplicity and scalability.
In addition to providing these benefits at an affordable price, DBaaS also frees up server space to enhance the performance of in-house systems.
Because admin and security are handled by the service providers, users can also rest assured that both are well-maintained and of the highest level.
Conclusion
The digital transformation is here to stay and brings with it additional and exciting new opportunities, but also added threats. As the world continues to recover from the effects of the pandemic, new ways of working, and of interacting with customers increasingly rely on effective database management.
Success will depend on striking the right balance between accessibility and security of data. There is no one-size-fits-all solution and no single answer to the question of which is the best DBMS. It is for each organization to look at the pros and cons of database management systems and decide for themselves which best suits their needs.
