Remove Barriers to Teradata Data Warehouse migration to Google BigQuery

By now, many enterprise organizations have either moved their data warehouse to the Cloud or they’re hyper-focused on developing and implementing a migration strategy. In fact, IT industry leaders predict that within two years, 83% of enterprises still using traditional data warehouse solutions today will have undergone cloud migration, leaving the remaining 17% in the digital dust by the end of 2020.

Data Warehouse Migration - Primary Factors:

As the focus on digital transformation grows, access to real-time data whether for financial reporting, gathering and analyzing customer behavior, managing inventories or a myriad of other reasons is no longer a “nice to have.” It’s a necessity for organizations as they strive to remain relevant. Therefore, digital transformation remains the top reason enterprise IT leaders cite for adopting a cloud-based data warehouse model. In addition, with data at the forefront of growth, the collection and dissemination of data will likely never slow down, making the ability to scale, inherent in Cloud platforms, the most common secondary justification for migration.

Data Warehouse Migration - Primary Concerns:

Despite all the benefits associated with migrating a data warehouse to the Cloud such as scalability, agility, and cost to name a few, some serious roadblocks remain. For example, security, attaining governance and compliance, hiring talent with cloud data management expertise, and privacy, continue to top the list of barriers. That said, one of the largest obstacles to adoption we’ve come across in working with clients is the inherent fear over what one small misstep in the migration process can do to short and long-term business operations.

Data Warehouse Migration - Overcoming Fear:

If your data warehouse was implemented on a Teradata platform, saying it’s complicated is an understatement especially if you were not on the original implementation team. In which case, hopefully, the architecture is consistent and the original implementation was well documented. If not, it’s okay as long as you take into consideration requirements, structure, and the evolution of the current system and do all the necessary legwork in the planning phase.

Arming your team with knowledge is the only way out. The key to a successful migration is understanding exactly what you have before moving into planning. And when a successful migration is your responsibility, you know as well as we do that points-of-failure and challenges are probable, especially if it's your first time.   

Data Warehouse Migration - Choosing the RIGHT Cloud:

To add to the already complicated process of planning there are a handful of Cloud platforms available and choosing the best provider for your situation is critical to future success. At Myers-Holum, we prefer Google BigQuery for numerous reasons and our clients choose it primarily because of key features such as:

• Standard 2,000 slot elasticity for running analytical queries. (Additional slots available as needed)
• Separate billing on storage and data processing that curbs unnecessary expenses
• Built-in redundancy for disaster recovery on a distributed Petabit network
• Simplification of data ingestion patterns and easy integration with cloud-based analytical toolsets
• Serverless NoOps environment that frees infrastructure to focus on data and business insights

Ready. Set. Go!

For more information on where to begin, we recommend taking a deep dive. Our four article  series outlines, in detail, the information you need to gather, what to consider, and a checklist to simplify planning. Then as you move forward, we’re happy to assess current configurations and work with your team to develop the best strategy for your unique situation - beginning with an assessment and ending with successful implementation.

Myers-Holum is a privately-held, professional services company headquartered in New York. We specialize in high-performance, scalable data solutions. Contact us at cloudinfo@myersholum.com or 646.844.4493 to learn more about Teradata to BigQuery migrations!