Overview
A global top 10 insurance company had started building a modern data lakehouse to enable faster delivery of use cases and business self-service, but the expected business outcomes still weren’t materializing. Valuable data remained scattered across cloud and on-premises systems, including the lakehouse, and analysts were still spending time manually reconciling data – sometimes pulling the data itself, other times just trying to locate the right source.
The company needed more than a new platform; it needed to optimize both its modern investments and existing systems with a logical, federated approach – one that connects data across platforms without requiring it to be centralized to one location, and one that could lay the foundation for a data-product-centric strategy driven by governed, reusable access.
Why Denodo
- Established a logical data layer with universal semantics and federated governance
- Accelerated delivery of high-value use cases – what previously took weeks was now completed in hours using real-time joins across systems
- Consistent access control and governed integration delivered through Denodo within the company’s secure cloud environment
- Delivered out-of-the-box integration with complex platforms, where others had failed
Business Need
Despite investing in a modern lakehouse to accelerate data delivery, the company’s business teams were still waiting. Analysts spent hours chasing the right datasets, stitching them together across cloud and on-prem platforms – often unsure if the numbers would even align.
The lakehouse team had made some progress, but critical data remained fragmented, and governance was inconsistent, leaving users stuck in manual reconciliation.
- Analysts relied on manual ETL, SAS programs, and custom scripts, introducing delays and inconsistencies.
- Enterprise data was still locked in platforms like Oracle, SharePoint, and Azure, limiting access for cross-functional teams.
- Databricks alone couldn’t deliver timely integration with key systems, impacting business outcomes.
- Lack of consistent access controls, masking, and automation made governance fragmented and hard to enforce.
The Solution
A proof of concept with Denodo demonstrated how a logical, federated approach could unify, secure, and govern access to live data across platforms without replication.
- Federated access to cloud and on-prem systems like Oracle, SharePoint, Databricks, and Kafka, enabling real-time data joins without duplication.
- SharePoint integration – where Starburst and TIBCO had failed – was achieved out of the box
- Built-in support for role- and attribute-based security policies, with dynamic data masking and out-of-the-box integration with challenging sources like SharePoint.
- Logical data layer with universal semantics, reducing duplication and enabling faster data reconciliation and consistent business logic across teams.
Key Outcomes
Denodo’s success during the POC quickly shifted internal momentum. What began as a trial became a strategic pivot in the company’s data transformation.
- High-value use cases like claims, contributions, and annuity validation – previously taking weeks – were now completed in hours using real-time joins
- SAS program benchmarks were exceeded for both data preparation time and query performance, with Denodo delivering greater agility and less overhead
- Over 50 engineers and data scientists now access trusted data via a governed, self-service model
Denodo and Databricks play complementary roles in the company’s modern data architecture. Together, they’ve enabled the company to accelerate data delivery, minimize duplication, and shift toward a data product-centric, business-aligned strategy. Denodo is now embedded as a strategic layer in the company’s data roadmap, enabling secure access across key business domains.
