Analytics

BigQuery and surrogate keys: a practical approach

When working with tables in data warehouse environments, it is fairly common to come across a situation in which you need to generate surrogate keys. A surrogate key is a system-generated identifier that uniquely identifies a record within a table. Why do we need to use surrogate keys? Quite simply: contrary to natural keys, they persist over time (i.e. they are not tied to any business meaning) and they allow for unlimited values.

Evaluation Guide: How to Choose a Modern Analytics Platform

Businesses everywhere understand a basic truth in today's economy: No enterprise can lead - or even survive - without analytics. But not all analytics platforms are created equal. Choosing the right one is essential to making discoveries that have the power to drive real change. But too often the evaluation is based on narrowly-focused criteria around just features and functions, limiting the impact analytics can bring to your organization.

Are you missing out leaving important data standing on the outside?

Every now and then you can't beat a bit of Meat Loaf, the singer not the food, as I've not had the pleasure to taste it. I recently found myself recalling a cult classic "Standing on the outside" not because of any failed break up but thinking about the abundance of data available externally that can be used in combination with your internal data. Unfortunately, many are still leaving this data standing on the outside.

Overview: Talend Server Applications with Docker

Since the release of Talend 7, a major update in our software, users have been given the ability to build a complete integration flow in a CI/CD pipeline which allows to build Docker images. For more on this feature, I invite you to read the blog written by Thibault Gourdel on Going serverless with Talend through CI/CD and Containers.