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SQL, NoSQL or NewSQL: Evaluating Your Database Options

A common question in the modern data management space involves database technology: SQL, NoSQL or NewSQL?

But there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer. What’s “right” must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis and is dependent on data maturity.

For example, a large bookstore chain with a big-data initiative would be stifled by a SQL database. The advantages that could be gained from analyzing social media data (for popular books, consumer buying habits) couldn’t be realized effectively through sequential analysis. There’s too much data involved in this approach, with too many threads to follow.

However, an independent bookstore isn’t necessarily bound to a big-data approach because it may not have a mature data strategy. It might not have ventured beyond digitizing customer records, and a SQL database is sufficient for that work.

Having said that, the “SQL, NoSQL or NewSQL” question is gaining prominence because businesses are becoming increasingly data-driven.

In 2019, an IDC study found 85% of enterprise decision-makers said they had a time frame of two years to make significant inroads into digital transformation or they will fall behind their competitors and suffer financially. Furthermore, a Progress study showed that 85% of enterprise decision-makers feel they only have two years to make significant digital-transformation progress before suffering financially and/or falling behind competitors.

Considering these statistics, what better time than now to evaluate your database technology? The “SQL, NoSQL or NewSQL question,” is especially important if you intend to become more data-driven.

SQL, NoSQL or NewSQL: Advantages and Disadvantages

SQL

SQL databases are tried and tested, proven to work on disks using interfaces with which businesses are already familiar.

As the longest-standing type of database, plenty of SQL options are available. This competitive market means you’ll likely find what you’re looking for at affordable prices.

Additionally, businesses in the earlier stages of data maturity are more likely to have a SQL database at work already, meaning no new investments need to be made.

However in the modern digital business context, SQL databases weren’t made to support the the three Vs of data. The volume is too high, the variety of sources is too vast, and the velocity (speed at which the data must be processed) is too great to be analyzed in sequence.

Furthermore, the foundational, legacy IT world they were purpose-built to serve has evolved. Now, corporate IT departments must be agile, and their databases must be agile and scalable to match.

NoSQL

Despite its name, “NoSQL” doesn’t mean the complete absence of the SQL database approach. Rather, it works as more of a hybrid. The term is a contraction of “not only SQL.”

So, in addition to the advantage of continuity that staying with SQL offers, NoSQL enjoys many of the benefits of SQL databases.

The key difference is that NoSQL databases were developed with modern IT in mind. They are scalable, agile and purpose-built to deal with disparate, high-volume data.

Hence, data is typically more readily available and can be changed, stored or handle the insertion of new data more easily.

For example, MongoDB, one of the key players in the NoSQL world, uses JavaScript Object Notation (JSON). As the company explains, “A JSON database returns query results that can be easily parsed, with little or no transformation.” The open, human- and machine-readable standard facilitates data interchange and can store records, “just as tables and rows store records in a relational database.”

Generally, NoSQL databases are better equipped to deal with other non-relational data too. As well as JSON, NoSQL supports log messages, XML and unstructured documents. This support avoids the lethargic “schema-on-write,” opting to “schema-on-read” instead.

NewSQL

NewSQL refers to databases based on the relational (SQL) database and SQL query language. In an attempt to solve some of the problems of SQL, the likes of VoltDB and others take a best-of-both-worlds approach, marrying the familiarity of SQL with the scalability and agile enablement of NoSQL.

However, as with most seemingly win-win opportunities, NewSQL isn’t without its caveats. These vary from vendor to vendor, but in essence, you either have to sacrifice familiarity side or scalability.

If you’d like to speak with someone at erwin about SQL, NoSQL or NewSQL in more detail, click here.

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Benefits of NoSQL Data Modeling

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erwin Expert Blog

Data Modeling is Changing – Time to Make NoSQL Technology a Priority

As the amount of data enterprises are tasked with managing increases, the benefits of NoSQL technology are becoming more apparent. 

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erwin Expert Blog

NoSQL Database Adoption Is Poised to Explode

NoSQL database technology is gaining a lot of traction across industry. So what is it, and why is it increasing in use?

Techopedia defines NoSQL as “a class of database management systems (DBMS) that do not follow all of the rules of a relational DBMS and cannot use traditional SQL to query data.”

The rise of the NoSQL database

The rise of NoSQL can be attributed to the limitations of its predecessor. SQL databases were not conceived with today’s vast amount of data and storage requirements in mind.

Businesses, especially those with digital business models, are choosing to adopt NoSQL to help manage “the three Vs” of Big Data: increased volume, variety and velocity. Velocity in particular is driving NoSQL adoption because of the inevitable bottlenecks of SQL’s sequential data processing.

MongoDB, the fastest-growing supplier of NoSQL databases, notes this when comparing the traditional SQL relational database with the NoSQL database, saying “relational databases were not designed to cope with the scale and agility challenges that face modern applications, nor were they built to take advantage of the commodity storage and processing power available today.”

With all this in mind, we can see why the NoSQL database market is expected to reach $4.2 billion in value by 2020.

What’s next and why?

We can expect the adoption of NoSQL databases to continue growing, in large part because of Big Data’s continued growth.

And analysis indicates that data-driven decision-making improves productivity and profitability by 6%.

Businesses across industry appear to be picking up on this fact. An EY/Nimbus Ninety study found that 81% of companies understand the importance of data for improving efficiency and business performance.

However, understanding the importance of data to modern business isn’t enough. What 100% of organizations need to grasp is that strategic data analysis that produces useful insights has to start from a stable data management platform.

Gartner indicates that 90% of all data is unstructured, highlighting the need for dedicated data modeling efforts, and at a wider level, data management. Businesses can’t leave that 90% on the table because they don’t have the tools to properly manage it.

This is the crux of the Any2 data management approach – being able to manage “any data” from “anywhere.” NoSQL plays an important role in end-to-end data management by helping to accelerate the retrieval and analysis of Big Data.

The improved handling of data velocity is vital to becoming a successful digital business, one that can effectively respond in real time to customers, partners, suppliers and other parties, and profit from these efforts.

In fact, the velocity with which businesses are able to harness and query large volumes of unstructured, structured and semi-structured data in NoSQL databases makes them a critical asset for supporting modern cloud applications and their scale, speed and agile development demands.

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Benefits of NoSQL