### 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.

#### Click [here](https://www.denodo.com/en/document/case-study/solving-lakehouse-bottleneck-how-global-top-10-insurer-accelerated-access-real-time-trusted-data) to read the full case study.