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Database version control: Getting started with Flyway

January 16, 2021   BI News and Info

“Database migrations made easy” and “Version control for your database” are a couple of headlines you will find on Flyway’s official website. And let me tell you this, those statements are absolutely correct. Flyway is a multi-platform, cross-database version control tool with over 20 supported databases.

From all my years of experience working as an Architect for monolith and cloud-native apps, Flyway is by far the easiest and best tool on the market to manage database migrations.

Whether you are an experienced data professional or starting to get involved in the world of data, this article is the foundation of a series that will get you through this fantastic journey of database migrations with Flyway.

Background history

Flyway was created by Axel Fontaine in early 2010 at Google Code under the Apache 2.0 license. According to Axel’s words, it all started when he searched for a tool that allows integrating application and database changes easily and simply using plain SQL. To his surprise, that kind of tool didn’t exist, and it makes total sense to me because there were not many options back at that time.

Just to get you in context of what I’m talking about in the previous paragraph, everything we know as DevOps today was conceived around 2009. David Farley and Jez Humble released the recognized “Continuous delivery” book in 2010. Therefore, Axel was, without question, a pioneer in deciding to write his own tool to solve this widespread software development problem: Make database changes part of the software deployment process.

Flyway acceptance was great among the developer community, leading to high-speed growth and evolution. For example, the list of supported databases grew, additional support to multiple operating systems was added, and many more features were included from version to version.

The next step in Flyway’s evolution was Pro and Enterprise editions’ launch back in December 2017, which was a smart decision to secure the project’s progression and viability. Without question, Flyway was already the industry-leading standard for database migrations at that time.

Around mid-2019, Redgate Software acquired Flyway from Axel Fontaine. Redgate’s expertise in the database tooling space opens the door to Flyway for new opportunities in expansion, adoption, and once more evolution!

Database migrations

You are probably already familiar with the term Database migration which can mean several different things within the context of enterprise applications. It could mean to move a database from one platform to another or move a database from a previous version of the DBMS engine to the most recent one. Another common scenario these days is moving a database from an on-premises environment to a cloud IaaS, PaaS solution.

This article is not related to any of these practices mentioned above. This article will get you started with database migrations in the context of schema migrations. Yes, this is another kind of database migration which means the practice of evolving a database schema with incremental, reversible, and consistent changes through a simple approach. This approach enables integrating database changes with version control and application deployment processes.

Before digging deeper into this topic, I would like to address the basic requirements of database migrations. Trust me, this topic is fascinating and full of great information that will help you adopt this practice. Whether you are a software developer, database administrator, or solutions architect, understating database development practices like this is essential to become a better professional.

Evolutionary Database Design is the title of an article published on Martin Fowler’s website in May 2006. It is an extract of the Refactoring databases book by Scott Ambler and Pramod Sadalage, also released in 2006. This lecture goes above and beyond explaining the evolution of database development practices through the years, providing techniques and best practices to embrace database changes in software development projects, especially when adopting agile methodologies.

The approach described in this book sets the stage for a collection of best practices that should be followed to be successful.

DBA and developer collaboration

Software development practices like DevOps demand that people with different skills and backgrounds to collaborate closely, knocking down silos and bottlenecks between multiple teams, like the usual separation between development and operations.

In a database development effort, collaboration is crucial to the success of the project. Developers and DBAs should work in harmony, assessing the impact of the database changes proposed before implementing them. Anybody can take the initiative to start the conversations around whether the database code is optimal, secure, and scalable, or simply to make sure it is following best practices.

Version control

Without question, everybody benefits from using version control. All the artifacts that are part of a software project should be included to keep track of the contributor’s individual changes. Starting from the application code, unit and functional tests, database scripts, and even other code types such as build scripts used to create an environment from scratch, known today as Infrastructure as Code.

All databases changes are migrations

All database changes created during earlier stages of the development phase should be captured, no exception. This approach encourages treating database change files like any other artifact of the application, making sure to save and commit these change files to the same version control repository as the application code to be versioned along together.

Migration scripts should include but are not limited to any modification made to your database schema like DDL (Data definition language) and DML (Data manipulation language) changes or data correction changes implemented to solve a production data problem.

Everybody gets their own instance

It is very common for organizations to have shared database environments. This scenario is often a bad idea due to the imminent risk of project delays caused by unexpected resource contention problems. Or, in other cases, delays are caused by interruptions made by the development team itself. A person working on some database objects modified the objects that were part of a last-minute database schema refactoring.

Everyone learns by experimenting with new things. Having a personal workspace where one can endeavor to explore a creative way to solve a problem is excellent! More importantly, being able to work free of interruptions increase productivity.

Leveraging technologies like Docker containers to create an isolated and personal database development environment/workspace seems like a good way to resolve this issue. Other solutions like Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) take this approach to a whole new level, providing an additional operating system on top of the Windows workstation.

Leverage continuous integration

Continuous Integration —CI, for short— is a software development practice that consists of merging all changes from a developer’s workspace copy to a specific software branch.

Best practices recommend that each developer should integrate all changes from their workspace into the version control repository at least once a day.

There is a plethora of tools available to set up a continuous integration process like the one recommended above. The one to choose depends on the size of the organization and budget. The most popular are Jenkins, Circle CI, Travis CI, and GitLab.

According to the theory behind this practice, there are few key characteristics a database migration tool should meet:

  • All migrations must have a unique identifier
  • All migrations must be recorded in a migration history table
  • All migrations should be repeatable and reversible

All these practices and characteristics sound attractive to speed up a database development effort. However, the question is: How and what can we use to approach database migrations easily? Worry no more, Flyway to the rescue!

logo company name description automatically gene Database version control: Getting started with Flyway

What is Flyway?

Flyway’s official documentation describes the tool as an open-source database migration tool that strongly favors simplicity and convention over configuration designed to facilitate continuous integration processes for any database on any platform.

Migrations can be written in plain SQL, of course, as explained at the beginning of this article. This type of migrations must follow the specific syntax rules of each database engine such as PL/pgSQL for PostgreSQL, T-SQL for SQL Server, PL/SQL for Oracle, etc.

Flyway migrations can also be manually executed through its command-line client or programmatically using the Java API, Docker containers, or Maven and Gradle plugins.

It supports more than twenty database engines by default. Whether the database is hosted on-premises or cloud environment, Flyway would not have a problem connecting by leveraging the included JDBC driver library shipped with the tool.

Flyway folder architecture

At the time of this writing (December 2020), Flyway’s latest version is 7.3.2. which has the following directory structure:

text description automatically generated Database version control: Getting started with Flyway

* Screenshot is taken from Flyway official documentation

As you can see from the folder structure, it is very straightforward; the documentation is so good that it includes a brief description for some of the folders. Let’s take a look in-depth look and define each one of these folders.

The conf folder is the default location where Flyway will look for the database connectivity configuration. Flyway uses the simple key-value pair approach to set and load specific configurations via the flyway.conf file. I will address the configuration file in detail in future articles; for now, I will stick to this simple definition.

Flyway was written in Java, hence the existence of JRE and lib folders. I strongly recommend leaving those folders alone; any modification to the files within these folders will compromise Flyway’s functionality.

The licenses folder contains the teams, community, and third-party license information in the form of a text file; these three files are available for you if you want to take a look and read all details about each type of license.

The drivers folder is the place where all the JDBC drivers mentioned before can be found in the form of jar files. I believe this folder is worth to be explored in detail to see what is shipped with the tool in terms of database connectivity through JDBC.

I will use my existing Flyway 7.3.2 environment for macOS. I’ll start by verifying my current Flyway version using the flyway -v command:

word image 33 Database version control: Getting started with Flyway

Good, as you can see, I’m on the 7.3.2 version. This is the same version used from the official documentation screenshot that describes the folder structure. Now, I will find the actual folder where Flyway is installed using the which flyway Linux command:

word image 34 Database version control: Getting started with Flyway

Using the command tree -d, I can list all folders inside the Flyway installation path:

a picture containing graphical user interface tex Database version control: Getting started with Flyway

Then I simply have to navigate towards the drivers folder and list all files inside this path using the ls -ll Linux command:

graphical user interface text description automa Database version control: Getting started with Flyway

Look at that long list of JDBC drivers in the form of jar files; right of the box, you can connect to the most popular database engines like PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, SQLite, Snowflake, MySQL, Oracle, and more.

Following the folder structure, there are the jars and sql folders where you want to store your Java or SQL-based migrations. Flyway will look at these folders by default to automatically discover filesystem (SQL scripts) or Classpath (Java) migrations. Of course, these default locations can be overridden at execution time via a config file and environment variables.

Finally, there are the executable files. As you can see, there are two types: One for macOS/Linux (Flyway) based systems and one for Windows (Flyway .cmd) systems.

How it works

Take a look at the following visual example, where there is an application called Shiny Soft and an empty shell database called Shiny DB. Flyway is installed on the developer’s workstation, where a couple of migrations were created to deploy some database changes.

diagram description automatically generated Database version control: Getting started with Flyway

The first thing Flyway will do when starting this project is to check whether the migration history table exists. This example begins the development effort with an empty shell database. Therefore, Flyway will proceed to create the flyway_schema_history table on the target database called Shiny DB.

a picture containing diagram description automati Database version control: Getting started with Flyway

Right after creating the migration history table, Flyway will scan and apply all available migrations on its default location (jars / sql)

graphical user interface application teams desc Database version control: Getting started with Flyway

Simultaneously, the flyway_schema_history was updated with two new records, one for each of the migrations available (Migration 1 and 2).

This table will contain a high level of detail that will help you to understand better how the database schema is evolving. Take a look at the following example:

word image 35 Database version control: Getting started with Flyway

As you can see, there are two entries. Each has a version, description, type of migration, the script used, and more audit information.

This metadata is valuable and crucial to Flyway functionality. Because it helps Flyway keep track of the actual and future version of your database. And yes, Flyway is also capable of identifying those migrations pending to be applied.

Imagine a scenario where Migration 2 needs to be refactored, creating just one table instead of two. What you want to do is to create a new file called Migration 2.1. This migration will include the DDL instructions to drop the two existing tables and create a new one instead.

Flyway will automatically flag and update this new migration as pending in the flyway_schema_history table; however, it will not apply such migration until you decide to do it.

a picture containing diagram description automati 1 Database version control: Getting started with Flyway

Once Migration 2.1 is applied, Flyway will update the flyway_schema_history table with a new record for the latest migration applied: table description automatically generated Database version control: Getting started with Flyway

Notice the third record that corresponds to the database version 2.1 is not a SQL script. Hence the type column record shows JDBC; instead, this was a Java API type migration successfully applied to perform a database refactoring change.

diagram description automatically generated 1 Database version control: Getting started with Flyway

Advantages

At this point, you should be a little bit more familiar with Flyway. I briefly described what it is and how it works. Now, stop to think about what advantages you will get, including Flyway as the central component of your database deployment management.

In software development, as with everything you do in life, the longer you take to close the feedback loop, the worse the results are. Evolving a monolithic legacy database, where any database change is performed following the state-based database deployment approach, could be challenging. However, choosing the right tool for the job should make your transition to a migration-based deployment easier and painless.

Embracing database migrations with Flyway could not be easier. Whether you choose to start with SQL script-based migrations or Java classes, the learning curve is relatively small. You can always rely on Flyway’s documentation to check, learn, and get guidance on every single command and functionality shipped with the tool out of the box.

You don’t have to worry about keeping a detailed control of all changes applied to your database for starters. All the information from past and future migrations are held with great detail in Flyway’s schema history table. This is not just a simple control table. What I like about this schema history table is the level of detail about every single migration applied to the database. You will be able to identify the type of migration (SQL, Java), who, when, and exactly what was changed in your database.

Another major paint point solved by Flyway is the database schema mismatch. This is a widespread and painful problem encountered when working with different environments like development, test, QA, and production. Recreating a database from scratch, at the same time specifying the exact schema version you want to deploy, is a powerful thing. A database migration tool like Flyway will ensure to apply all those changes that belong to a specific version of your application. Database changes should be implanted with application changes.

Conclusion

This article provides a foundation and detailed explanation of Evolutionary database design techniques and practices required to approach database migrations with tools like Flyway.

I also included a summary of Flyway as a database migration tool, starting from the early days, explaining why and how this tool was born. It finally explored its folder structure and components and provided a visual and descriptive example of how this tool approaches database migrations with ease.

Please join me in the next article series, focusing on explaining how to install Flyway’s command-line tool for Linux/macOS and Windows. Also, explore all details related to its configuration through config files and environment variables.

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Support CRM with New Dynamics 365 Field Service Mobile App

January 16, 2021   Microsoft Dynamics CRM

As a service leader, you have experienced firsthand how remote work has impacted service operations. Servitization, including proactive service, is now the expectation — the job is not complete after the sale. Your field service technicians who are already familiar with working remotely, also face new challenges.

While it may seem an uphill battle to provide perfect field service, a proactive approach puts you on the path for a wealth of advantages: Reduced service calls. Upsell opportunities. Long-term business relationships. The new Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service mobile app, part of the Microsoft Power Platform, is designed to provide you with these advantages and work together with Microsoft Dynamics 365 for CRM and other Dynamics 365 applications.

Your field service technicians need a cross-platform, multi-device solution like the Dynamics 365 Field Service Mobile app to keep up with the service expectations of today. But the technicians in the field aren’t the only ones involved. You have service representatives handling the dispatching from the back end as well.

Manage Resources and Business Processes Intelligently and with Ease

  • AI-enabled Scheduling Recommendations
  • Geolocation and Geofencing
  • Inspections

It starts with customer service and dispatch. What better way to ensure a smooth handoff between your customer service and technicians than to have easy-to-update workflows and intelligent scheduling suggestions?

“Servitization, including proactive service, is now the expectation”

With total schedule optimization, you can dispatch the right technician for the job, minimize travel time, and maximize resource utilization. AI-enabled scheduling recommendations can help you identify the best technician for the job in a fraction of the time. Scheduling can be fully automated, semi-automated or manual using a drag-and-drop schedule board and interactive map. With geolocation capabilities enabled, you can view the traffic along a technician’s route, as well as get predictive data on travel time and work duration.

More on geolocation and geofencing: it is important to enable the settings on the back-end as it impacts the effectiveness of many of the features in the app. In addition to locating nearby resources during service booking, geolocation capabilities also allow your technicians to pull up directions to the service site.

It is easy for your service teams to automate inspections for your field service technicians based on the incident type and attach it to the appropriate work order. Customize your inspection forms and layout and draft questions that utilize drop-down fields, fill-in note boxes, and more. If analytics is turned on, this information can be serialized for processing answers to your services.

Solve Issues in the Field the Right Way, the First Time, Every Time

The Dynamics 365 Field Service mobile app provides a 360-degree view of customer assets, with insights to detect and solve issues proactively. Rich insights and reporting in the app can be leveraged to reveal opportunities, as well as increase first-time fix rates.

  • 360-degree Views of Case Information
  • Rich Insights and Reporting
  • Help Resources
  • Multi-device Support
  • Offline-mode
  • Bar Code Scanning
  • Tap-to-call
  • Call Recordkeeping
  • Voice Dictation

Bookings are viewable immediately upon login and are modifiable. Work Orders provide full details on the service request, including a map view of appointments. While in the field, you can streamline appointments by populating service tasks and time estimates, as well as capture photos and payment. Further, you can add a list of the appropriate products required for the repair based on the latest asset data from Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management.

x2021 01 11 15 51 12 625x318.jpg.pagespeed.ic.70cEgFdRiG Support CRM with New Dynamics 365 Field Service Mobile App

Sometimes your technicians may need to utilize help resources. In-context help such as immersive step-by-step guides and mixed reality tools are available. With remote, real-time collaboration, another technician with the relevant experience can step in to help solve the problem faster.

The app has multi-device support including iOS and Android, and Windows Mobile smartphones, tablets, and browsers. Offline-mode allows your technicians to continue to interact with data without an internet connection.

Bar code scanning leverages category search inside Dynamics 365 so you can create QR and 2-D bar codes that are printed and adhered to assets. You simply use the scanner on your phone to scan the code to pull up information about that asset.

x2021 01 11 15 49 37 625x239.jpg.pagespeed.ic.aep Ax2N i Support CRM with New Dynamics 365 Field Service Mobile App

Tap-to-call is available within the record, so you do not have to log into another system to hunt down a phone number. The app also has phone call recordkeeping and voice dictation. Press the microphone icon, record a note, and that note can be listened to from the record anytime.

Check out the full article HERE.

Other Resources:

Build a Tighter Sales and Accounting End-to-End Process

3 Ways to Strengthen Marketing and Expand Opportunities

Ready to try it for yourself? Get Started with JourneyTEAM

JourneyTEAM was recently awarded Microsoft US Partner of the Year for Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (Media and Communications) and the Microsoft Eagle Crystal trophy as a top 5 partner for Dynamics 365 Business Central software implementations. Let JourneyTEAM show you how to make the most of the Field Service mobile app for your organization’s ERP processes. We can provide demos and full custom introductions. Contact JourneyTEAM today!


177x247x2020 08 24 15 32 44.jpeg.pagespeed.ic.GxqNPDY2JL Support CRM with New Dynamics 365 Field Service Mobile AppArticle by: Dave Bollard – Chief Marketing Officer

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JourneyTEAM is an award-winning consulting firm with proven technology and measurable results. They take Microsoft products; Dynamics 365, SharePoint intranet, Office 365, Azure, CRM, GP, NAV, SL, AX, and modify them to work for you. The team has expert level, Microsoft Gold certified consultants that dive deep into the dynamics of your organization and solve complex issues. They have solutions for sales, marketing, productivity, collaboration, analytics, accounting, security and more. www.journeyteam.com

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6 Strategies for Achieving Your Business Goals in the New Year

January 15, 2021   TIBCO Spotfire
TIBCO BusinessStrategy scaled e1610648033784 696x365 6 Strategies for Achieving Your Business Goals in the New Year

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Happy New Year! 2021 has officially arrived and we’re sure that you’re already chasing down your goals for the new year, ready to face whatever challenges you might meet along the way. In this month’s TIBCO tips blog, we’re highlighting different ways to help you to work towards achieving your 2021 business goals.

Data Governance: How to Move from Strategy Into Practice

Many organizations are realizing that to drive business value with data, they need to understand the context of the data and its master lineage. They need efficient data governance with robust metadata management—which isn’t a simple ask. Learn about the art of technology for data governance and gain insights into how metadata technologies can support your organization’s strategies and data governance program success in this webinar.

Team with TIBCO Webinar: Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine

Staff Scientist Jack Bramley of Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine joined the Team with TIBCO webinar series. He discussed how the school is using TIBCO Spotfire and TIBCO Data Science software in its genomic screening platform to fight neurodegenerative diseases. Watch this fascinating session to learn how you can manage complex datasets and uncover insights to drive innovation.

TIBCO Data Virtualization Named a Leader by GigaOm

As the demand and complexity of data continue to grow, companies need a solution to manage all of their data across the organization. That’s where data virtualization comes in, bringing together your diverse, disparate data sources in one place for easy access and control. The recent GigaOm Radar report provides an expert evaluation of top vendors and predicts market movement in the data virtualization space. Learn more about TIBCO Data Virtualization software, rated a Fast Mover according to GigaOm.

Learn How You Can Add Agility and Pivot Faster 

Market volatility is creating unprecedented challenges, leaving many organizations in need of greater agility to keep up. Quickly connecting digital assets, regardless of where they are hosted, is a key goal. To navigate this challenge and reduce time to market, the TIBCO Cloud Integration platform makes it easy for everyone in your business to share and discover digital assets. Read about how the TIBCO Cloud Integration iPaaS can help your users pivot more quickly in this blog post.

Stay on Top of TIBCO Data Science at the Virtual TIBCO Analytics Meetup

Keeping your software products up to date is the easiest way to push your business forward and get the most out of your investment. Every quarter, our analytics experts get together to keep you updated and answer questions. In February’s session, we will also include a demo on how to identify and classify patterns of interest in big data, which is a critical part of any manufacturing scenario. Join the live discussion with Chief Analytics Officer Michael O’Connell and the TIBCO Data Science Team.

Industry-Specific Ebooks Are Here!

Learning from industry leaders is a great way to advance your business. Gaining insights into their challenges and business transformation outcomes can help your organization reinvent itself and reach new heights. Learn from leaders in Manufacturing, Retail, and Financial Services by downloading our industry-specific ebooks.

TIBCO Cloud Integration makes it easy for everyone in your business to share and discover digital assets. Read about how the TIBCO Cloud Integration iPaaS can help your users pivot more quickly. Click To Tweet

Make sure to check back in February for more tips from TIBCO on how to keep pushing your business forward towards its goals for the year! 

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Researchers propose using the game Overcooked to benchmark collaborative AI systems

January 15, 2021   Big Data

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Deep reinforcement learning systems are among the most capable in AI, particularly in the robotics domain. However, in the real world, these systems encounter a number of situations and behaviors to which they weren’t exposed during development.

In a step toward systems that can collaborate with humans in order to help them accomplish their goals, researchers at Microsoft, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Nottingham developed a methodology for applying a testing paradigm to human-AI collaboration that can be demonstrated in a simplified version of the game Overcooked. Players in Overcooked control a number of chefs in kitchens filled with obstacles and hazards to prepare meals to order under a time limit.

The team asserts that Overcooked, while not necessarily designed with robustness benchmarking in mind, can successfully test potential edge cases in states a system should be able to handle as well as the partners the system should be able to play with. For example, in Overcooked, systems must contend with scenarios like when a plates are accidentally left on counters and when a partner stays put for a while because they’re thinking or away from their keyboard.

 Researchers propose using the game Overcooked to benchmark collaborative AI systems

Above: Screen captures from the researchers’ test environment.

The researchers investigated a number of techniques for improving system robustness, including training a system with a diverse population of other collaborative systems. Over the course of experiments in Overcooked, they observed whether several test systems could recognize when to get out of the way (like when a partner was carrying an ingredient) and when to pick up and deliver orders after a partner has been idling for a while.

According to the researchers, current deep reinforcement agents aren’t very robust — at least not as measured by Overcooked. None of the systems they tested scored above 65% in the video game, suggesting, the researchers say, that Overcooked can serve as a useful human-AI collaboration metric in the future.

 Researchers propose using the game Overcooked to benchmark collaborative AI systems

“We emphasize that our primary finding is that our [Overcooked] test suite provides information that may not be available by simply considering validation reward, and our conclusions for specific techniques are more preliminary,” the researchers wrote in a paper describing their work. “A natural extension of our work is to expand the use of unit tests to other domains besides human-AI collaboration … An alternative direction for future work is to explore meta learning, in order to train the agent to adapt online to the specific human partner it is playing with. This could lead to significant gains, especially on agent robustness with memory.”

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Oracle Launches Version 21c

January 15, 2021   CRM News and Info

Since the 1970s there’s been a steady decline in the number of free-standing relational database companies until only Oracle remains. Familiar names like Sybase, Ingres, Informix, MySQL, SQL Server and others are either out of business or have been acquired.

So, it would be reasonable to believe that the database market has commoditized, and that one relational DB is as good as another (plus or minus), though today Oracle has the dominant share of the market. But if commoditization was true a few years ago, it’s certainly not now.

In the recent past, lost market share, technology hiccups, and a minor rebellion among users over pricing and related policies aimed at Oracle, helped to launch a new generation of databases from startups and well-heeled competitors like Amazon.

Trouble is, the reports of commoditization and of Oracle’s flagging market presence were greatly exaggerated. Over the last decade, Oracle has built up its flagship product to be not simply better, but much better, than the competition. It did this in several ways.

First, it developed hardware like Exadata to move big database workloads into memory. It was a predictable move, but greatly appreciated by large DB consumers because it removed the performance bottleneck of relatively slow hard disks, thus enabling databases to run as much as a million times faster. Disk drives operate at millisecond rates — and silicone runs by the nanosecond — potentially enabling that dramatic speed up.

Next, and perhaps just as important, Oracle embraced cloud computing. Even though it had supported the majority of cloud companies from the beginning, and even though Oracle developers lived with cloud customers to see how to boost performance, it was seen as a laggard because the company didn’t offer cloud applications of its own.

Today’s Business Needs

Nonetheless, Oracle learned a lot from its customers and plowed its findings back into its core product just as others were getting restless and seeking alternatives.

Competition heated up and today there are good and credible competitors for Oracle. Though Oracle, and Gartner, have scads of data documenting Oracle’s superior performance.

One big difference that Oracle exploits is that its competitors now offer multiple versions of their databases tuned to specific workloads like OLTP or analytics. It’s a good strategy that enables the company to concentrate on optimizing various functions for discreet markets.

But that’s not how we work.

Modern business has converged needs because applications like CRM continue to demand more styles of computing and database access than ever before. Back when relational databases existed to support row and column screens and reports, there was less challenge.

Today though, a CRM application might need the same data, but it will also want to know the next best offer to provide, an analytics and machine learning job. It might also require serious graphics processing to give users visual understanding of possible next steps.

In short, our business apps don’t do just one thing and our databases have to keep up. The idea of specialization makes sense in theory, but the idea loses a lot in practice — especially if a given specialty database is not as robust as the converged version.

Converged Database

That’s why I was so intrigued by one particular part of Oracle’s briefing about the new 21c version of its flagship RDB.

According to Oracle and Gartner, the Oracle Autonomous Database placed first in all four operational use cases tested — and first or second for all four analytical use cases according to Gartner’s publication, “Critical Capabilities for Cloud DBMS for Operational Use Cases.”

That’s not supposed to happen. Specialists are supposed to be better at their one thing than generalists are at trying to be all things to all people. But not here. In this case, the performance leader continues to be one of the earliest players in the market. Moreover, all of the significant resources that companies can throw at the problem (i.e. money) have not resulted in significant advantages.

Just to highlight the point, Oracle is now calling its product a “converged database” to help with differentiation by highlighting that many businesses don’t often only focus on OLTP or AI, but that their businesses require a bit of everything. You can search on the new version of Oracle’s DB, 21c for the details.

There’s no doubt that the database market is undergoing a second flowering after decades of status quo stasis, and there are some good options out there. Some of the advances had to wait for faster hardware and others needed a business case to capture part of the billions of dollars that Oracle spends on R&D every year.

To get that truism right for once, the proof of the pudding really is in the eating.
end enn Oracle Launches Version 21c


Denis%20Pombriant Oracle Launches Version 21c
Denis Pombriant is a well-known CRM industry analyst, strategist, writer and speaker. His new book, You Can’t Buy Customer Loyalty, But You Can Earn It, is now available on Amazon. His 2015 book, Solve for the Customer, is also available there.
Email Denis.

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‘Insecure’ Star Yvonne Orji To Develop Disney Plus Comedy Series

January 15, 2021   Humor
 ‘Insecure’ Star Yvonne Orji To Develop Disney Plus Comedy Series

Yvonne Orji is developing a semi-autobiographical comedy series at Disney Plus that boasts David Oyelowo and Oprah Winfrey among its executive producers, Variety has learned.

Titled “First Gen,” the half-hour show is based on Orji’s personal experiences growing up as a Nigerian immigrant in America. As a child, she’s caught between trying to honor her parents and culture while simultaneously trying to assimilate to American life.

Orji will write and executive produce the project, which will mark her first scripted series writing credit. Oyelowo will executive produce under his Yoruba Saxon Productions banner, with Winfrey and Carla Gardini executive producing for Harpo Films. 20th Television will serve as the studio.

Orji is best known for her role as Molly on the hit HBO series “Insecure,” which is set to end after its fifth season. She was nominated for an Emmy for best supporting actress in a comedy for the show in 2020. Her other acting credits include “A Black Lady Sketch Show” and “Jane the Virgin” as well as the 2018 comedy film “Night School.” She released the stand up special “Momma, I Made It” in 2020.

She is repped by UTA, Odenkirk Provissiero, and Del Shaw Moonves.

“First Gen” marks the second collaboration between Oyelowo’s Yoruba Saxon and Winfrey’s Harpo Films. The company’s recently worked together on Oyelowo’s feature directorial debut “The Water Man.” Oyelowo also starred in that project in addition to producing, with Gardini and Winfrey executive producing. Winfrey also produced and appeared in the 2014 film “Selma,” in which Oyelowo starred as Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Oyelowo is primarily known for his acting work. He received a Golden Globe nomination for “Selma” as well as the HBO film “Nightingale.” His other feature credits include “Queen of Katwe,” “Interstellar,” “A Most Violent Year,” “The Butler,” and “Jack Reacher.

He is repped by CAA, Hamilton Hodell and Del Shaw Moonves.

Source: Variety

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P2 Automation: What’s Exciting for Small Businesses in 2021?

January 15, 2021   Microsoft Dynamics CRM
crmnav P2 Automation: What’s Exciting for Small Businesses in 2021?

We don’t need to dwell on what a challenging year 2020 was for businesses large and small. We’re all ready for better days ahead. At P2 Automation, we’re looking forward to exciting things we can bring to our small business clients in 2021.

CRM for Small Business

Small business owners realize that their most important asset is their customers. Cultivating, managing, and preserving customer relationships should be among your primary goals. The right CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software will provide two advantages. It will automate and simplify your sales and prospect funnels while keeping you abreast of your existing customers’ needs and potential.

However, not all small businesses are the same. Some out-of-the-box CRM solutions expect you to change your style to match theirs. We think your CRM should work for you, rather than the other way around. You should be able to have the customized automation you need to run your business your way.

With Microsoft Dynamics 365, CRMPlus365, or P2xRM as a starting point, we can provide you with the right CRM system that fits your business exactly. Click here to find out more about CRM for your small business.

Business Intelligence

Business Intelligence (BI) enables your team to transform business data into actionable insights. You’ll have what you need to make better-informed business decisions and work efficiently toward your goals.

BI helps you utilize sales forecasts to manage resources and inventory.  Intuitive dashboards allow you to stay ahead of trends and spot potential glitches or production shortages. Click here to find out more about Business Intelligence services for your small business.

Business Process Automation

At P2 Automation, it’s not a secret that we love automation. And we’re good at it. P2 helps our small business clients automate important yet repetitive tasks that are essential to success. Well-designed automation ensures that vital as well as routine steps never get overlooked or fall through the cracks. Automating key business processes gives you accuracy and consistency, leading you confidently toward your goals. Click here to find out more about the value of business process automation for your small business.

Mobile CRM Applications

Mobility used to be an option, but it’s not so much anymore. You can still conduct all your business on-premises, but you’d really be limiting yourself. Your employees are mobile; your clients are mobile. These days everyone has mobile devices with them wherever they go. Even if you already have remote access to your business systems, wouldn’t it be easier if you had a simple mobile app designed specifically for the task at hand? With a few clicks, you could access the data you need or trigger a process right from your mobile device.

P2 Automation can configure an app for you and your teams at an affordable cost. Click here to find out more about mobile CRM applications for your small business.

CRM Web Portals

Nobody likes to wait for information. Yet, small businesses may be hard-pressed to provide rapid response. A CRM web portal allows your team to share data with people outside your organization securely. Customers or vendors can log into your web portal and access information, place orders, initiate a service call, etc., at any time they like.

You can provide better service while also saving time, money, and frustration. Click here to find out more about a secure CRM Web Portal for your small business.

If all this sounds overwhelming, don’t worry.  Our experts at P2 Automation can present options and help you decide how to get the best return on your investment in information technology in 2021 and beyond.

Contact us at P2 Automation to schedule a free strategy session.

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IBM acquires Taos to supplement its cloud expertise as workloads shift

January 15, 2021   Big Data

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IBM announced that it’s acquiring Taos, a provider of managed and professional IT services with a strong focus on public cloud computing platforms. At the same time, Deloitte Consulting announced that it has completed its previously announced acquisition of HashedIn Technologies Private Limited, a software engineering and product development firm specializing in cloud native technologies.

Terms of both deals were undisclosed. However, they both come at a time when the number of workloads being shifted to public clouds has accelerated significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. That shift is altering the center of data gravity in the enterprise in a way that requires IT services providers to add additional application and data management expertise that spans multiple clouds.

Most of the data organizations manage today still reside in on-premises environments. It’s not likely all data will reside on-premises or in the cloud, but rather organizations will find themselves managing data as it ebbs and flows across multiple centers of data gravity, said David Sun, director of corporate business development for IBM Services, in an interview with VentureBeat.

“All our clients are telling us their applications and data will reside in multiple clouds and hybrid cloud computing environments,” said Sun.

Taos, which will operate as an IBM company based in San Jose, California, will remain with IBM after the rest of IBM’s managed services business focused on infrastructure is spun out sometime next year. That relationship is similar to the one IBM is establishing with 7Summits, an IT services provider focused on the Salesforce platform that IBM acquired last week. This follow IBM’s announcement last month that it plans to acquire Nordcloud, a provider of cloud consulting leader in Europe. Overall, mergers and acquisitions among IT services providers is at an all time high.

The challenge enterprise IT teams face today is that there is a general shortage of cloud computing expertise. IBM and other IT service providers are counting on organizations to augment the limited IT expertise and resources they have with external cloud expertise. That expertise is even more sought after now because most enterprise IT organizations don’t have a lot of experience employing cloud native technologies such as containers, Kubernetes, and serverless computing frameworks.

A report published earlier this week by Information Services Group (ISG), a technology research and advisory firm, finds commercial outsourcing contracts with an annual contract value of $ 5 million or more involving as-a-service platform and managed services reached $ 16 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020. That’s up 13% over last year and 9% over the third quarter. Managed services specifically accounted for $ 7.2 billion for the quarter, which according to the report marks the first time managed service deal sizes have returned to their pre-pandemic levels.

A significant percentage of those managed services contracts revolve around cloud computing projects, said ISG president Steve Hall. Managed service providers (MSPs) are trying to strike a balance between a decline in demand for managing on-premises IT infrastructure against cloud computing opportunities that require more software expertise, said Hall. “Many MSPs have been focused on the data center,” he said.

The biggest challenge in the last year has been the simple fact that landing new business typically requires in-person meetings because of the level of trust that needs to be established between service providers and their end customers, noted Hall.

Less clear at the moment is to what degree organizations will ultimately rely more on outsourcing as IT environments become more complex. The overall percentage of IT consumed as a managed service has been relatively small compared to the trillions of dollars in applications and infrastructure that is managed internally by an IT staff. However, Gartner is forecasting that the market for cloud professional services will exceed $ 200 billion by 2024.

Internal IT staff, of course, are often resistant to relying on service providers that they often perceive to be a potential threat to their jobs. The challenge IT services providers face is either overcoming that bias or simply finding a way to bypass that internal IT altogether by establishing a relationship with a business executive or CIO who has come to believe external services providers simply have a level of expertise in one area or another that is needed much sooner than an internal IT team can acquire.

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Get ready! Top Dynamics 365 Trends Coming your Way in 2021

January 15, 2021   CRM News and Info

xget ready top dynamics 365 trends coming your way 2021 625x316.jpg.pagespeed.ic.Id 3PmwwB3 Get ready! Top Dynamics 365 Trends Coming your Way in 20212020. A year we will remember. A year that was not quite as we expected it to be – to say the least!  Still, the Earth keeps spinning, the software world keeps evolving, and you don’t want to fall behind. 

There are several Dynamics 365 trends out there and you should keep an eye on them. Why are they important? These trends will shape your professional landscape in 2021 and beyond, so insights into what to expect and where to invest your efforts can make a difference.

Let’s have a look at our top 6 and provide specific examples as we go along. That’s the best way to get to grips with the latest tech and understand what it means in a living, breathing business context.

What Are the Essential Dynamics Trends for 2021?

2021 has plenty of exciting innovations in store, many of which are just beginning to reveal their full potential. To keep your finger on the pulse, let’s get started and focus on the top tech trends for Microsoft Dynamics users in 2021:

  1. Use Blockchain to Prove a Document’s Authenticity
  2. AI, the Slow but Strong Trend
  3. Integrate with Microsoft Teams for Better User Adoption
  4. IIoT Meets Dynamics 365
  5. Guarantee Security for Software Integrations
  6. Beware of your Dynamics 365 Storage Options

Read on and make sure that you take the right turns as the new year unfolds!

Dynamics 365 Trends #1 – Use Blockchain to Prove a Document’s Authenticity

Exciting and futuristic, Blockchain has been a buzzword for some years now. Above all, people associate Blockchain with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. As Blockchain use evolves, experts predict that it will become less about cryptocurrency and more about using it for a different aim: prove a document’s authenticity.

Did you even know you can use Blockchain technology’s security and distributed features to prove a document is untampered? Well, it turns out that you can, this is available on the market now. And the good thing about it is that your files and documents become trustworthy data. In other words, your files become a sound base for your company’s strategic business decisions. That makes all the difference. 

Stefano Tempesta, Microsoft Regional Director and advisor to Australia’s National Blockchain Roadmap, believes that “With blockchain, you can imagine a world in which every agreement, every process, every task, and every payment would have a digital record and signature that could be identified, validated, stored, and shared. Intermediaries like lawyers, brokers, and institutions like notaries might no longer be necessary. Individuals, organizations, and machines would freely transact and interact with one another with little friction.”. In an article on the future of Blockchain, he discusses possible uses of one such solution for SharePoint documents that is already out on the market and that can be easily integrated with Dynamics 365. We will certainly hear more about that during 2021.

Dynamics 365 Trends #2 – AI, the Slow but Strong Trend

AI has been a promising trend for 30 years or more now. Don’t you have the feeling we keep hearing AI is going to be the next big thing? As we enter 2021, I think it is time to realize AI is not a “big burst” type of trend. It is a continuously growing trend that goes into more and more areas of our daily lives. We currently see significant improvements in machine vision, natural language processing (NLP) and automated speech recognition (ASR). These will facilitate the structuring of unstructured data such as images or emails.

In the big world of Dynamics 365, we see AI coming into very distinct areas, from Dynamics 365 Fraud Protection to Dynamics 365 Virtual Agent for Customer Service. The area where we expect the most significant impact of AI will be in Dynamics 365 Customer Insights, with AI helping to define segments and predictive models.

Dynamics 365 Trends #3 – Integrate with Microsoft Teams for Better User Adoption

Not even Microsoft would have guessed Teams would reach 115 million daily active users like it did back in October 2020. Microsoft Teams has become ubiquitous, thanks in large part to need for remote work and remote events. 

This makes the integration with Microsoft Teams a plus for other products. Moreover, it is also a way to help drive other products’ user adoption. Within Microsoft 365 business you can see all Office apps fully links with Teams and that also happens with SharePoint. The level of integration for Dynamics 365 is not the same just yet, but the trend is for Dynamics 365 to be more and more integrated with Teams. Currently, you have the Dynamics 365 app available for Teams. Besides the normal use of the app within Teams, you can “chat” to get the D365 information you need from within Teams. You can also add a Dynamics 365 tab into a Microsoft Teams channel and access customer engagement app records there. This way, you and your team members can collaborate on one or multiple records (Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities, among others).

If you have custom applications that are important in your business daily routine, you can take this one step further and consider surfacing them in Teams. This is a new and evolved means of getting new users to use those custom applications, therefore driving user adoption. It might even help existing users get into the habit of using those same apps more.

Dynamics 365 trends #4 – IIoT meets Dynamics 365

Dynamics 365 offers organizations across different industries the ability to know their customers as well as their own organizations. The idea is always to enable predictive insights and, therefore, smarter decisions. 

Next on our big rundown of Dynamics trends for 2021 is the trend to enable this in manufacturing and industrial settings. How? By connecting Dynamics to shop floor information, leveraging data from machines and sensors. This gets the information to where the organization needs it – in 2021, we will be evolving from reactive decisions to proactive analytics that can support the decision process. 

Yes, this is definitely the most industry-specific trend on the list. Nonetheless, for this industry, this trend is a game-changer. By using Dynamics to make these analytics and insights accessible throughout an industrial organization, great things will happen.

There are many interesting use cases for combining IIoT with business software like Dynamics:

  • Go for predictive maintenance and prevent machine breakdowns by monitoring your machines’ condition and performance during regular operation and spotting early signs of the problem.
  • Implement remote monitoring and stay informed (real-time) by viewing the information you need with the appropriate detail level.
  • Improve production planning by having all the relevant information right where you need it, and you can finally make production planning more information-based and much more straightforward.

As you can see, IIoT meeting Dynamics covers a range of possibilities and concepts, giving it various use cases. As such, it’s one of the 2021 trends you can’t afford to ignore.

Dynamics 365 trend #5 – Guarantee Security for Software Integrations

The next trend in our rundown is security related. There is an increasing need to share data while maintaining privacy and security. That is NOT going to stop in 2021.

In our hyper-connected digital age, the trend for 2021 is to guarantee security when software integrations are involved. Truth be told, it is natural to assume that there is no danger in integrating two separate software pieces if you are already using them both. The only problem is that that assumption is wrong.

Let’s have a look at an example. Say you use Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft SharePoint. One day you discover that Microsoft provides an integration between the two. Cool! You can have the documents you previously had piled up in Dynamics automatically transferred to SharePoint but still readily accessible from Dynamics. It sounds like a brilliant idea!

You could very easily overlook the fact that the privileges for the documents that you had carefully set up in Dynamics are not going to be transferred to SharePoint. Everyone can see everything from the SharePoint side! Unknowingly, you would have created a security and privacy threat.

Luckily, the fact that there are more integrations than ever also means the solutions for these integration security problems are showing up – and this trend will be stronger throughout 2021.

For example, for the Dynamics and SharePoint integration problem above, you now have a solution. Moreover, you also have an add-on to that solution that ensures an automatic organization into folders of those documents on SharePoint.

Dynamics 365 trends #6 – Beware of your Dynamics 365 Storage Options

The last in our rundown of Dynamics trends for 2021 is storage. It was already common for Dynamics 365 admins to look for alternative storage for documents and attachments. The motivation for this was saving on costs and increasing performance. Alternative storage locations were frequently SharePoint or Azure Storage.

In 2021, we perceive that security is becoming one of the primary motivators for using alternative storage. As a result, we are already seeing new providers emerging in a market that felt consolidated up to now.

For example, in German-speaking countries, Dracoon is getting strong and will release the possibility of integrating with Dynamics 365 still in this quarter.

Takeaways

By embracing the prevailing trends in 2021 and using them to your advantage, you will accelerate your business’s growth in an ever-changing landscape.

You can hit the ground running as a new year unfolds!

Talk with Connecting Software’s experts if you want help putting these trends to practice in your organization. They will be more than happy to answer any questions you might have or jump on a quick call to show you how all this can work.

 Get ready! Top Dynamics 365 Trends Coming your Way in 2021

By Ana Neto

Software engineer since 1997, she is now a technical advisor for Connecting Software.

Connecting Software is a producer of integration and synchronization software solutions since 2004. We operate globally and we are also a proud “Top Member 2019” at CRMSoftwareBlog.

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