Sometimes, a simple shift sparks something big — a fresh perspective, a quick tip, or a new tool that just works.
The best ideas often come from experience, and our experts are always uncovering smarter ways to work with data. Whether it’s a tip to streamline your processes or a perspective that challenges the status quo, in this issue of the Insider, we’re sharing what they know to help you make the right moves with your data.
By blending the strengths of data lakes and data warehouses, a data lakehouse can simplify workflows, cut costs, and make your data more actionable.
Here's what's inside:
How the data lakehouse improves upon the data lake and the data warehouse.
Why lakehouses are the go-to architecture for advanced analytics and machine learning.
Practical tips to make your lakehouse migration smooth and efficient.
"A data lakehouse gives you the best of both worlds — flexibility and scalability without compromising governance or performance. it's the future of streamlined, smarter data management."
-John Bemenderfer, Analytics8 Managing Consultant
📡 Data Signals: Hot Topic of the Month
Agentic AI
The language around AI is evolving. While generative AI has dominated headlines, vendor messaging is now shifting to Agentic AI — AI agents capable of making autonomous decisions and orchestrating workflows without constant human input.
Major players like Microsoft, Google, and Databricks are reframing existing capabilities and adding new ones to maximize its potential in the data analytics space. These efforts focus on simplifying the production of data products, automating repetitive tasks, and enabling personal AI assistants to analyze data trends.
Up-and-coming companies like Zenlytic are taking a hyper-focused approach, releasing solutions designed to tackle specific problems with precision.
Why it matters: Agentic AI promises more intuitive ways for humans to interact with data, moving beyond traditional BI and reporting. This shift brings the dream of true self-service capabilities closer to reality by addressing practical challenges in business intelligence and analytics. The goal? Making your data work smarter, not harder.
Emerging Tech Insights
A few of the tech updates on our radars:
1. Fivetran: Expanding Data Integration Capabilities
Fivetran is leveling up data integration by tackling two major challenges: unstructured data and hybrid deployment.
Unstructured Data Support: Now you can integrate video, images, and text data, enabling AI and RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) applications to harness the full spectrum of your data.
Hybrid Deployment: Need flexibility for sensitive data? Fivetran’s hybrid model combines their managed service with your local environment, giving you control where it matters most.
Why it matters: These updates empower teams to unify data pipelines while balancing security, flexibility, and scalability.
2. Zenlytic: Revolutionizing Business Intelligence
Zenlytic’s AI-powered platform is making BI accessible to everyone — no coding required.
Natural Language Queries: Ask plain-English questions, and Zenlytic delivers actionable answers.
Agentic BI: By leveraging advanced AI models, it automates analysis and reporting, allowing business users to focus on insights instead of spreadsheets.
Why it matters: Zenlytic's approach democratizes analytics, making it easier for teams to explore data trends and act on them without needing technical expertise.
Vision-Based Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) is taking center stage in data conversations, with retrieval accuracy improvements of 25-39% making it a standout innovation. By harnessing multimodal and vision language models, Vision RAG transforms static visuals like PDFs, charts, and infographics into actionable insights.
Why it matters: With the multimodal AI market expected to grow at a 35.8% CAGR through 2030, its ability to unlock the potential of unstructured data is driving its buzz and adoption.
Busting Data Myths
🛑 Myth: “More data equals more insights.”
Collecting excessive amounts of data doesn’t guarantee better decisions. Without proper organization, governance, and purpose, data can create bottlenecks instead of opportunities.
Reality Check: Quality over quantity wins every time. Focus on well-governed, purposeful data collection to unlock meaningful insights.
