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January 13, 2014

How Successful Companies are using tools like Excel, Tableau, and QlikView to Analyze Data in their Proprietary Systems

Data, data, data … data is everywhere these days, but how hard is your business data working for you? Are your people connected to your enterprise data? Can they contribute in real-time? Are your analytical tools plugged in and delivering the most current results? How businesses leverage their data to create information is what gives them a decisive advantage. Now connecting propriety systems in real time to common business applications and BI tools can be done easily.

In enterpriSimba Technologiesses, there is no shortage of data and no shortage of systems.  There are traditional data sources like Oracle, SQL Server and Teradata. There are also proprietary in-house built systems for things like marketing, sales, accounting, etc. Many businesses also store data in Hadoop or other NoSQL databases, which are the talk of the town. However, the problem remains: how do you get your non-traditional data into BI tools like Excel, Tableau or QlikView?

Of course, if your data is in Oracle or Hadoop, then Excel can access it relatively easily.  But many companies have built proprietary in-house systems for things like accounting, marketing, and sales; these systems give the company an edge in their business. What happens when data is trapped in a proprietary in-house system?  How do you get the trapped data into Excel so you can analyze it?  Do you dump it into a text or comma-delimited file and then pull it into Excel? What happens when your data is updated? How do you know you have the most recent version of the data? This is when it becomes very cumbersome. As multiple copies of the spreadsheet are produced, it becomes difficult to determine which contains the correct and most up-to-date information. Then, how can you be sure that the data used to create reports is accurate?

The easiest way to connect Excel, Tableau, QlikView or any other BI tool to a proprietary in-house system is to build an ODBC driver. ODBC is a technology that has been around for over two decades and is the most common way to connect applications to data sources.  Sound simple? Building an ODBC driver isn’t as simple as it sounds.  When you dig deeper, you find that many of the traditional database companies and all of the major Hadoop distributions have at least one thing in common: Simba Technologies ODBC Drivers. When you connect your Excel, Tableau or QlikView to your Hadoop data in Cloudera, Hortonworks, or MapR, you are connecting via a Simba ODBC Driver.

Simba, a twenty-year veteran in the industry, co-developed the ODBC specification with Microsoft and is the leading supplier of data connectivity technology to software companies. The SimbaEngine ODBC SDK is the basis for hundreds of standard ODBC drivers that enterprises use on a daily basis.  Simba is the plumbing that allows applications, such as Excel or any of the hottest BI tools in the market today, to connect to any data source.  Simba has perfected the art of data connectivity.

You can leverage the SimbaEngine SDK to connect your proprietary in-house built systems by building an ODBC driver in just 5 days. This enables direct, live access connectivity from Excel or Tableau to the data you need to analyze.  The data is now always up-to-date and there is only one-version of the truth.  Additionally, the SimbaEngine SDK lets you build in any type of security and auditing to control access to the data, allowing visibility and transparency.   More advanced features of the SimbaEngine SDK allow you to integrate data from different data sources. You can even add a layer on top of your traditional data like Oracle and SQL Server so that employees are insulated from IT system changes.

Getting Started is Easy

You can download a free evaluation version of SimbaEngine by visiting the website or learn more by watching the webinar: How to Build an ODBC driver in just 5 days.

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