Understanding Change Data Capture (CDC) and its use-cases for modern data-driven businesses

By Albert - On Oct 09, 2024

Introduction

Data is the beating heart of every modern day business and enterprise and it is the fuel which powers growth for dynamic companies.

In today’s hyper-connected, data-driven environment, businesses are greatly relying on the power of real-time data for making decisions and executing a range of applications.

Data is rightly labelled as the oil of the 21st century and it has become an integral force in driving the business transformation of legacy companies and organisations.

The impact of accurate, up-to-date data in today’s business landscape is unsurmountable and it has become increasingly crucial for businesses to ensure they have the right tools and platforms to harness the power of data.

One such name is Oracle which has been a go-to-platform of choice for companies and enterprises working with massive volumes of consumer and business data.

However, with changing times and emerging trends, the volume, types, variety and velocity of data being created, processed and modified has been growing rapidly.

Due to the shrinking shelf-life and validity of data, it has become imperative for businesses and organisations to leverage tools and platforms which enable real-time data insights and decision making.

If they continue to rely on legacy tools and archaic platforms, businesses can risk losing out on opportunities for growth as they cannot make use of the data at hand.

This is why modern data architecture based on cloud and real-time capabilities are on the rise as it allows database managers to immediately and instantly detect any incremental changes to the data.

As enterprises and companies continue to advance and evolve with the changing times and trends, they are increasingly adapting to cloud data warehouses and data lakes instead of relying on legacy database management servers located on-premise.

So, how can businesses convert perishable, transactional data to real-time, valuable data without compromising on speed, accuracy and business opportunities? The answer is Change Data Capture (CDC).

Understanding Change Data Capture

Change Data Capture (CDC) is a modern day technology which is used for detecting and capturing real-time changes happening to any database.

In today’s data-rich environment, CDC has become an indispensable tool for real-time data integration and updation, enabling businesses to maintain up-to-date data in any time-critical environment.

Change Data Capture is highly useful whenever any application or system requires capturing of any modification or updation such as insertion, deletion or updation of any type or form of data in a database.

One such technology used for capturing and detecting is known as Oracle CDC which is widely used by companies and enterprises for identifying, recording and updating changes in real-time and enabling data-intensive applications.

With the help of database tables and internal logs, Oracle CDC can automatically retrieve, capture and store any changes made in the source system and set up the updated data for consumption by the target systems like analytics, reporting and forecasting.

Change Data Capture in Oracle does not require any additional querying of databases or loading the database for replicating the changes as they occur in real-time.

Benefits of Change Data Capture

Implementing CDC can help enterprises and companies in many ways, some of them are:

Making real-time data-driven insights:

With the help of capturing immediate changes and updates to the database and having access to real-time data, businesses can make data-driven decisions.

Identification of trends, emergence of patterns and responses to changes in data is critical to generating relevant business insights.

Capturing updated data easily:

Data-intensive applications and processes rely on updated, real-time data and with the help of CDC, businesses can replicate data instantly.

This enables database managers to save time and improve their efficiency significantly.

Plus, it helps them avoid the labor of updating, querying or loading the database manually while reducing the load on the database system.

Minimize loss of data:

CDC is a powerful technology which ensures that any or all types of changes made to a database system, irrespective of how small or incremental they are, are captured and replicated as they occur.

This helps businesses avoid loss of data and minimize the occurrence of data leakage or spillage.

In any scenario where continuous, real-time data replication is necessary, CDC plays a mission critical role.

Why implement Oracle Change Data Capture

There are many advantages of using a bespoke technology like Oracle CDC as it enables businesses to navigate through the complexities of working in a data-intensive competitive environment.

Oracle Change Data Capture improves efficiency of systems, reduces the load on systems and optimizes the entire database management cycle.

It has widespread use in common industries such as – ecommerce, healthcare, IoT, financial services and logistics among others.

This technology is critical in scenarios where the reliance on real-time, continuous consumption of data is critical and the need for up-to-date data for analytics and business intelligence is paramount.

As the need and use of real-time data becomes more omnipresent around the world, businesses must learn to adapt to technologies like CDC for seamless data storage, replication and integration.

CDC allows businesses to leverage the power of high volume data and act on the changes in real-time in a faster, more agile way.