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Data is a key element of success for enterprises, but without well-designed databases, data can easily be misinterpreted, siloed, or ignored.
Databases provide more than a repository to meet this data management need. They offer data storage, accessibility, analytics, and security.
The database market is one of the most dynamic in data science because companies are looking for new ways to manage their growing sets of valuable big data.
Read on to learn about what the database market looks like and how companies are shifting their expectations for database technology:
An Analysis of the Database Solutions Market
Also read: Database Trends
Database market
The database market continues to grow in both size and complexity. The in-memory database market grew to $5.2 billion in 2020 and is expected to surpass $12.1 billion by 2026, according to Mordor Intelligence.
For the greater database management system (DBMS) market, a similar growth trajectory is predicted. The DBMS market reached around $63.1 billion in 2020 and is projected to near $125.6 billion by 2026, according to Expert Market Research.
Growth in the database market is due partly to the role that database technologies are playing in corporate digital transformation efforts.
Enterprises are looking for increasingly integrated database solutions that can manage SQL and NoSQL data as needed. Companies are also investing in database technology to support data quality management and important tech initiatives, like cloud migration and machine learning (ML).
Although relational (SQL) and non-relational (NoSQL) are the most common types of databases, other types include object-oriented, hierarchical, key-value, cloud, and wide column databases.
Learn more about the Cloud Database Market.
Database features
Both standard database solutions and custom-designed solutions offer some core capabilities to users:
- Data retrieval and query management: When a user submits a query or searches for a specific kind of data, the DBMS uses the provided criteria to source and display the data in a selected format.
- Data editing and manipulation: Databases typically allow users to make manual edits to data sets, but they also frequently use automated guidelines and scanning to detect and correct errors.
- Automation: Beyond error and anomaly detection, DBMS solutions can automate security patching, platform upgrades, scaling, and data provisioning. Automation is often performed with some machine learning features.
- APIs and integrations: Database technology often comes with native integrations and API capabilities, making it possible for users to connect the database to other business applications.
- Performance monitoring: Databases use preprogrammed criteria and guidelines to find errors in data sets; in many cases, this technology integrates with other performance monitoring solutions.
- Data analytics: Databases typically include a dashboard where data visualization, reporting, and other analytics tools can be used to further understand stored data.
Learn more about machine learning: Machine Learning Market
Benefits of databases
Ensure data organization and searchability
Databases can organize structured and unstructured data on a single platform. Regardless of the silos where this data is normally stored, the database setup and its searchability make it easy for users to store, access, and maintain the quality of data.
Uncover business intelligence
Because databases focus on breaking down traditional business data silos and storing data in an easy-to-interpret format, this type of technology is frequently implemented to democratize data and make it easier to apply to greater business intelligence (BI) needs.
Enable data storage, backup, and security
Databases provide storage and backup solutions, but they also typically offer different security features, like automated patching, user access monitoring and management, and data policy application.
Allow multi-user access
Many database technologies are hosted in the cloud or designed for multiple users to access and use the tool. This democratizes the data for less technical teams and makes it possible for different departments to benefit from accessible data.
Establish data integrity management
When businesses use databases for master data management, they improve their data integrity management capabilities because they’ve invested in a single source of truth for ongoing business data changes.
Learn about Cloud Database Trends
Database use cases
Databases can be used to manage internal or external-facing data, and they’re not limited to any one department. In many scenarios, database management systems and other database technologies are used to integrate data from different platforms for interdepartmental goals and higher-level business needs.
To better understand how databases can aid in corporate data management, learn how two customers use two of the top products in this space:
“Our previous financial transactional system was extremely dated; it was an MS-DOS-based system. This was not a sustainable solution as it could not scale to future needs and there was no support for the product. We had to modernize rapidly and change our business to the digital age so we could scale to match our growth targets and also retain our customers (with ever more complex invoicing and reporting needs). We also needed to become more compliant in our reporting and risk management. SAP HANA allowed us to do all of this, so it was a great product.” -Model risk manager in miscellaneous services, review of SAP HANA at Gartner Peer Insights
“Db2 suits most of our applications as a backend RDBMS. This is our go-to choice as it’s scalable, secure, and highly available. Db2 is supported on-premise as well as in cloud-hosted formats. We can set up automatic backups and encryption to run on scheduled times. It’s easy to install Db2 in Windows as well as Linux machines. The transactions are quite fast and secure and can be rollbacked at any time if the temporal database feature is enabled. Db2 provides more control to the DBA to make the database more efficient for space and performance.” -Design and automation engineer in industrial manufacturing, review of IBM Db2 at Gartner Peer Insights
Database providers
When considering which database providers to work with, consider if they offer open- or closed-source solutions, if they provide any specialized features for your industry, and especially if they extend support services that your team will need for ongoing database maintenance.
Across different industrial standards and business use cases, the following database vendors are considered some of the best:
Read next: Top Data Management Platforms & Software
