WingArc has partnered with CData Software to embed the full suite of CData JDBC Drivers into their next-generation BI and analytics platform, MotionBoard - Japan's #1 BI solution by market share.
Through the OEM partnership and embedded drivers, WingArc has standardized the integration of complex cloud & NoSQL data, shortening the lead time for their customers' data visualization, business automation, AI and IoT support.
Challenges:
- Increasing SaaS and NoSQL data sources
- Complex JSON structure, query, auth mechanism of various APIs
- “You do not know until you touch real data"
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Solutions:
- Embedded CData JDBC Drivers to MotionBoard
- Additional cloud & NoSQL data sources are freely available to users
- Promote new data source use in the Datalympic hackathon, hosted by WingArc
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Our team at CData Japan recently interviewed MotionBoard Development Division Architect, Mr. Takahashi about the OEM partnership. Here is what he had to say about the impact of embedding CData Drivers into the Motionboard platform to add connectivity.
Q: What are the major trends shaping BI?
Takahashi: BI is not for just dashboards and visualization anymore. Now there are more intelligent ways of BI usage, such as, setting alerts based on business and IoT data, integrating with communication platforms, and connecting with AI platforms. It is now more user-driven than vendor or engineer-driven, like never before. This change has lead to the increasing demand for more variety of data sources that users want to analyze. SaaS and NoSQL data are frequently requested.
What users want to do is not data integration. They want to utilize and analyze the data. But the more data sources they need to add, the more time they have to spend deciphering how to integrate data, which is nonsense. Before we partnered with CData, users would ask for a new data source, and it took a long time before they could actually use that data on MotionBoard. We had to check the availability of the API and get the account, then we could set requirements to develop connectivity. What made it more difficult was the complexity of managing nested JSON responses, different query methods, paging, and authorization. APIs are so difficult, and integration codes are challenging to reuse.
Q: What Were the Keys in Choosing CData JDBC Drivers?
Takahashi: CData JDBC Drivers make 250+ data sources available as tables that MotionBoard can use. When we want SaaS and NoSQL data sources, they are already there. Drivers take care of all the troubles of dealing with different data sources, making REST into abstract tables and standardizing queries. In addition, CData's driver lineup covers a wide variety of both globally used data sources and also Japan-specific data sources like kintone and PCA Accounting.
Q: How do You Provide This SaaS & NoSQL Connectivity to the Users?
Takahashi: MotionBoard released four data sources initially, and now 26 data sources are available. New SaaS & NoSQL drivers are available to MotionBoard license users without any additional charges. We are a 'Data Empowerment Company,' and we want customers to leverage their data.
Following such policy, we are going to hold a data hackathon, "Datalympic" and we will let anyone that participates in it use all the drivers in our product. There will be IoT/NoSQL connectors, social connectors like Twitter, phone/SMS sources like Twilio, and many other Open Data that are now available in MotionBoard. We hope that users will use their real data and find value in that data.
