What’s more complex than storing data? It is integrating systems with diverse data formats, structures and security protocols. When businesses plan to integrate their on-premise wealth with cloud systems, several challenges loom large due to such inherent differences. That is why, for an industry surfing through a CAGR growth of 12.5% (2022-2032), it is imperative to match the pace of rising data volumes and build resilient interoperable connections.
While doing my research, I browsed through multiple products and liked the contemporary approach to finding the right balance between security and speed while exchanging data.
For example, Flatfile provides key features such as AI-enabled data mapping, creditable workflows, stringent security and more. This helps streamline data import and management. By automating the data import process, Flatfile saves time, reduces errors, and improves overall data quality for businesses and organizations. It also automatically validates and cleans data, ensuring that the imported data is accurate and consistent.
There’s also K2View’s Enterprise iPaaS Platform that enhances the effectiveness of on-premise to cloud integration. Utilizing 256-bit encryption, ensures total compliance with regulations and thus secured data exchange. This further helps in real-time data delivery, masking and fully optimized frameworks. Their Data Product Platform enables scalable, trusted data access, elevating integration processes’ integrity and speed. K2View is known for its micro-database approach wherein the data of every business partner is stored in a dedicated database. The fabric can easily store millions of such databases.
And then there’s Skyvia’s Agent application that establishes secure tunnels for data transfer without complex configurations or firewall adjustments. This ensures optimized performance over long distances while minimizing resource usage on local computers. By leveraging Skyvia, businesses can import data from on-premise databases to cloud applications directly, synchronize cloud data with local databases effortlessly, and make data accessible over the Internet via OData or SQL API. Skyvia’s comprehensive approach to on-premise-cloud integration is enabling businesses of scale to streamline their data management process and harness the reachability of the cloud.
Here’s a quick run-through of the top challenges that these products are addressing.
Stringent Firewall Restrictions
Firewalls fortify and monitor access points to ensure total protection of data. This restriction is widely implemented in organizations and institutions to mitigate the risk of unauthorized access and data breaches.
However, configuring Firewalls to combat illegitimate access from outside is prone to errors and thus time-consuming. Without thorough consideration of security and compliance policies, data integration can suffer unforeseen complexities.
As a result, it hinders the process of on-demand and in-the-moment data transfers. While performing child integrations, developers should consider alternatives that facilitate seamless exchange and adhere to security protocols.
Implement a proxy gateway within the on-premise network to establish the communication between internal databases and external cloud services.
Such a mediating system can authenticate and authorize access requests by effectively bypassing firewall restrictions. Not to miss, utlizing secure VPN tunnels for encrypted channels further ensures data integrity and confidentiality.
Overloading of Resources
Now, data integration with on-premise systems is bound to impact the system’s performance and responsiveness. This is because they exert a lot of load on the underlying infrastructure. This happens because ETL-enabled data processing is highly resource-intensive consuming I/O assets. Moreover, optimal resource management doesn’t mitigate the risks beyond a certain limit and lacks integration efficiency.
Developers should opitmize the resource allocation through distributed data processing architectures; these include parallel processing frameworks and microservices-based architectures.
Next, distributing the data integration tasks across multiple nodes enables horizontal scaling. Again an important hack to opitmize resource consumption.
Furthermore, consider employing caching mechanisms and data compression techniques to enhance overall system performance and responsiveness. These strategies help reduce the computational overhead and storage requirements associated with data processing operations.
Latency and Performance Optimization
Since on-premise and cloud integration involves data transfer over a WAN, it is bound to suffer latency and performance issues. On top of it, network congestion, geographic distance between on-premise and cloud environments, and uncertain bandwidth availability can further complicate the latency challenges during the exchange.
In such a case, when developers overlook optimizing transfer protocols, and implementing caching mechanisms and compression techniques, it leads to increased bandwidth consumption and thus latency overheads.
In addition to addressing the standard practices as discussed above, developers must follow parallel processing, data partitioning, and query optimization. This helps in enhancing the scalability, bolsters integration capabilities across distributed networks and thus overhauls the complete on-premise to cloud data exchange landscape.
Compliance and Regulatory Requirements
It isn’t incorrect to say that data transfer and compliance have a hand-in-glove relation. Thanks to the legendary GDPR that compelled similar initiatives in other parts othe world such as HIPAA. While its a boon for protecting consumer PII, products and data professionals have a graving challenge.
On-premise and cloud integration within the limits of compliance regulations is a tough nut to crack and any breach, no matter unintentional can cause major setbacks. In fact as of March 2024, GDPR fines have totalled over € 1.78 billion, including the largest fine issued to a tech giant for consent violations.
In such a scenario, developers have to trek the fine line between ensuring seamless transfers and total PII confidentiality. In the pursuit of the same, they must aim for end-to-end protection and integrity throughout the integration process.
Get the basics right and Implement data encryption, audit trails and access controls. Next, seek expert consultation to navigate the complicated legal frameworks to ensure that the handling practices are in total compliance.
This is crucial to consumers thorough understanding of the law and strategise meticulous implementation.
Likewise, other challenges include lack of dedicated IPs in on-premise systems, data inconsistency, poor quality data and security constraints.
The future of digital hinges on Interoperability
As the digital frontier grows, the easy exchange of information between applications becomes paramount. Data integration serves as the cornerstone, bridging disparate platforms and unlocking the potential for collaboration to match the rising expectations of the users.
