What is our primary use case?
The main use case is that the stack is MongoDB, with the main data source from Mongo. CData Sync comes as a third party that is layered on Mongo.
Power BI is directly connected to CData Sync, so we can stream the data from Mongo and visualize it.
The other unique thing about our use case is that aside from streaming live transactional data for informed decisions, we are in multiple markets at the moment in several African countries. This has been challenging because streaming data for different currencies and different local currencies, then accumulating everything in USD, makes everything look muddled up. However, it has been good with CData Sync since we can have everything in one currency.
What is most valuable?
The beautiful thing about CData Sync is that you can preview the data directly on their UI. The data that is settled in the database can be previewed on CData Sync before actually ingesting it into the BI tool.
That is one feature I appreciate. You can actually pick a particular column or drop a particular column. CData Sync's preview feature speeds up my workflow because at that layer of preview, I already know what I want into my pipeline and what I don't want. The SQL query at that level would also help to filter whatever I don't want.
What needs improvement?
There are times when you are streaming and trying to connect that CData Sync fails. However, the team has been very helpful. There is a particular technical support person that has usually come to my aid whenever there are issues. For improvement, I think the turnaround time for support can increase, especially on weekends.
I want to discuss the security of CData Sync. It is not something I actually have visibility to, but I think if CData Sync could give users the opportunity to put their own security layer on this, that would be beneficial. If CData Sync is compromised, who do we hold responsible? So security is an area for improvement.
CData Sync's interface is good. For integration with other tools, I think CData Sync could do well by integrating with other providers, especially AI agents so that one can easily integrate CData Sync to more agents out there.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using CData Sync for about four months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
CData Sync is stable. Our transactional data is not a lot so far, so I can say CData Sync is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
For CData Sync data scalability regarding the increasing amount of data, our data is not a lot right now, so I think CData Sync handles it perfectly. Maybe later when transactional data grows significantly, we might be able to ask for better plans, especially regarding a scalable plan.
How are customer service and support?
Customer support is great. Sonja is a great helper. Technical support from David has been helpful. I can tell you that CData Sync is stable and their customer support is trying.
For customer support at CData Sync, I would give them an eight. I would not give them a ten because on weekends the reply is slow. Another thing I thought about is they need to consider users that are not in their region. I think it is a time difference issue.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I did not purchase CData Sync through the AWS Marketplace. I saw CData Sync's ad on LinkedIn. I then reached out to a particular agent. That agent put me through their customer support team. That agent sent me an email and copied their team members. Since then, we have been discussing.
We had been doing everything manually. We saw that the manual way was not scalable. We then had to go the automation route.
How was the initial setup?
I think the startup cost is fine for us.
What about the implementation team?
I was able to integrate CData Sync easily with the help of CData Sync's technical staff.
What was our ROI?
Money has been saved with CData Sync. If we had gone through the route of a larger engineering effort for our pipeline, we would have spent more. In spending more, we might also have needed to employ a data engineer. So we have saved money on the technical side and on the staffing side. As an analyst, I was able to handle the integration.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
For startup cost, I think it is still fair. Although we are a startup with a lean budget, if the startup cost was expensive, we might not have considered CData Sync at all.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We thought about using Zapier or other automation tools. We could have automatically used Selenium to download and scrape web pages and then store them in Google Drive. That is how we did it before.
What other advice do I have?
I gave CData Sync a rating of seven because I have weighed the downsides and the upsides. CData Sync is solving my use case and I am able to use it, which already puts it past five. The usefulness and the simplicity in the technicality are things I also love about CData Sync, so that adds one to the five, making six. Looking at everything overall, including the support, the cost, and everything else, that makes it seven. I think seven is a good rating for me.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
