In today’s data-driven landscape, organizations grapple with the complexities of managing and leveraging their ever-expanding data volumes. Siloed data, legacy systems, and the inability to harness artificial intelligence (AI) pose significant challenges to business agility and innovation. As research shows, only 32% of organizations reported being able to realize tangible and measurable value from data.

Modernizing existing analytics solutions with a platform like Microsoft Fabric, an AI-powered analytics platform that unifies data and services, empowers organizations to optimize data management practices and unlock greater value from their information.

A recent Harvard Business Review study underscored the impact of self-service analytics, revealing a 72% productivity boost among organizations that equipped their teams with such tools. Bitwise, with its deep expertise in ETL and data modernization, it is uniquely positioned to assist organizations in their journey to adopting Microsoft Fabric for self-service analytics and AI-driven initiatives.

Understanding Microsoft Fabric

Microsoft Fabric is a unified data platform designed to streamline data management and analysis. It serves as a central hub integrating various Azure data and analytics services, including Data Factory, Azure Synapse Analytics, Synapse Data Engineering, Synapse Data Science, Synapse Data Warehousing and Power BI. By consolidating data and automating management processes, Fabric enables businesses to modernize their data stack and drive faster innovation.

A data warehouse modernization strategy centered around Microsoft Fabric can unlock significant value by unifying data, automating workflows, and facilitating advanced analytics. However, migrating legacy data warehouses to Fabric requires careful planning and execution, especially when it comes to ETL processes.

The Importance of ETL Migration

ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processes form the backbone of any data warehouse. As organizations embark on data modernization journeys, migrating legacy ETL workflows to a cloud-native platform like Microsoft Fabric is essential. This migration not only enhances data quality and consistency but also unlocks the potential for automation, scalability, and integration with advanced analytics capabilities.

Choosing the Right Migration Path

Microsoft Fabric offers several ETL options, including Microsoft Fabric Notebooks (with PySpark, Scala, Spark SQL, Python, etc.), Microsoft Fabric Spark Job Definition, Data Pipelines and Fabric Dataflows Gen 2. Selecting the optimal path depends on various factors, such as team expertise, data volume, complexity, and performance requirements.

Bitwise’s ETL modernization practice excels in assessing client-specific needs and recommending the most suitable migration target. Our automated ETL migration tool supports a wide range of legacy ETL platforms, including SSIS, DataStage, Informatica, Ab Initio, and SQL stored procedures.

Overcoming Migration Challenges

Migrating ETL processes can present challenges, such as data quality issues, performance bottlenecks, and dependency management. Bitwise’s experienced team and advanced tools address these hurdles effectively. Our automated migration solutions accelerate the process while ensuring data accuracy and integrity. Additionally, we provide comprehensive support throughout the migration journey, from planning and assessment to testing and deployment.

Bitwise has a proven track record of successful ETL migrations, including a project for a multinational manufacturer that involved migrating SSIS packages to Azure Data Factory + Dataflow. This project resulted in significant performance improvements and cost reductions. These prior experiences provide a strong foundation for designing and implementing a robust, scalable, and efficient data strategy.

Bitwise and Microsoft

Bitwise’s partnership with Microsoft and our early involvement in the Microsoft Fabric development roadmap enable us to deliver cutting-edge solutions. Our team comprises certified experts who stay up to date with the latest platform advancements.

By choosing Bitwise, organizations gain access to a proven partner with a strong track record in ETL migration and data modernization. Our solutions help clients reduce costs, increase efficiency, accelerate time-to-insights, and improve agility and scalability.

Getting Started

Data modernization is imperative for organizations seeking to thrive in today’s competitive landscape. Microsoft Fabric offers a powerful platform for transforming data management and analytics. Bitwise’s expertise in ETL migration and data modernization can be your trusted ally in this journey. Our 4-week Microsoft Fabric Readiness Assessment deep dive helps you navigate your data modernization journey. Get a tailored roadmap for your data modernization journey on Azure Marketplace.

By working with Bitwise, you can overcome migration challenges, optimize your data infrastructure, and unlock the full potential of your data. Contact us today to discuss your data modernization goals and explore how we can help you achieve them.

The post Achieve Microsoft Fabric Readiness with Bitwise appeared first on Bitwise.

Microsoft Ignite Conference was a whirlwind of innovation, unveiling new technologies and strategies that will reshape the future of business. From AI-powered solutions to groundbreaking cloud innovations, Microsoft Ignite 2024 sessions showcased a vision of a digitally transformed world. As per Microsoft, companies worldwide are investing many resources in integrating Gen AI into their workstreams to benefit their clients and employees. Microsoft’s internal data and third-party research also indicate the ongoing AI boom as over 85% of Fortune 500 organizations are using Microsoft AI and 70% are using Microsoft 365 CoPilot.

In the Microsoft Ignite 2024 Keynotes, CEO Satya Nadella introduced around 80 ways in which Copilot and AI can assist startups in successfully building and implementing AI-powered solutions for delivering value to their clients. In this blog post, we’ll delve into key takeaways from the event and explore how Bitwise can help you leverage these advancements and accelerate your data modernization journey.

Key Takeaways from Microsoft Ignite 2024

Microsoft Ignite Announcements highlighted how nearly 70% of Fortune 500 companies are now using Microsoft 365 Copilot—it’s clear that AI is transforming industries at every level with the use of generative AI on the rise. Organizations and startups must balance the adoption of AI securely and responsibly. Microsoft Ignite 2024 Highlights covers the key focus of this year’s AI and Microsoft innovations making it accessible and impactful around different industries. The major themes from the keynote include:

1. AI-enabled Business Users: A New Era of Innovation

The impact of AI is evident in the return on investment for organizations. According to a Microsoft survey, each dollar invested in generative AI yielded a 3.7x return. In the sessions, Microsoft launched sustainable AI initiatives in various sectors, including financial services, public sector, retail, and manufacturing. These initiatives are designed to handle diverse tasks, freeing workers from mundane duties.

Microsoft also addressed long-awaited changes, such as reducing the number of items without CI/CD support, and ensuring that by the end of the year, these challenges will be resolved.

• AI-First Approach: Microsoft emphasized its commitment to AI, integrating it into various products and services. Companies with AI-powered agents can assess vast amounts of data, execute complex procedures, and adapt to changing environments. Whether it’s automating customer service interactions, enhancing personalized shopping experiences, or driving sustainability efforts, AI has the potential to revolutionize industries.
• Copilot as a Universal Assistant: Copilot, Microsoft’s AI-powered assistant, was showcased as a powerful tool for productivity and creativity, across various Microsoft 365 apps.
• AI-Driven Insights: Advanced AI capabilities were demonstrated to extract valuable insights from data, enabling data-driven decision-making.

2. Cloud Innovation Redefined

Microsoft announced a significant expansion of its database capabilities on Azure. Azure SQL Database is now generally available as a source for mirroring, and SQL Managed Instance is entering the preview phase for this feature. [Note: if you have on-premise SQL Server databases, check out this SQL server migration case study to see how Bitwise helps migrate to Azure SQL MI.]

Additionally, Microsoft has introduced the concept of Open Mirroring, which eliminates the need for specific technologies to implement mirroring within the Fabric platform. This flexibility allows for seamless data synchronization between applications and Fabric, enabling a broader range of solutions to be integrated into a unified platform.

• Azure Innovations: Microsoft announced significant advancements in Azure, including new services and features to enhance performance, security, and scalability.
• Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Solutions: Microsoft reinforced its commitment to hybrid and multi-cloud strategies, providing flexible solutions for businesses of all sizes.
• Edge Computing and IoT: Microsoft highlighted the importance of edge computing and IoT, enabling real-time insights and intelligent devices.

3. Microsoft Fabric – AI-powered Data Platform

Microsoft introduced a new database class within the Microsoft Fabric platform, initially incorporating SQL databases. This innovation allows applications to be positioned closer to analytical solutions when both reside within the same environment. By automating data replication to OneLake in a delta format, the platform ensures a seamless and near-real-time synchronization of data. This approach provides a unified SQL endpoint for both transactional and analytical workloads, significantly reducing latency and enhancing overall performance. This groundbreaking development has the potential to reshape future architectural patterns.

• Real-time Intelligence: Simplifies working with real-time data like sensor data or application logs.
• Fabric Databases: Integrates the entire Microsoft SQL Server database portfolio into Fabric. Offers full transactional capabilities and seamless data integration with OneLake.
• Industry Solutions: Pre-built solutions for specific industries like sustainability, healthcare, and retail to accelerate time to value.
• Fabric Workload Development Kit: Allows developers to extend Fabric with custom workloads and integrate their own ISV solutions.
• Open and AI-Ready Data Lake: Focuses on OneLake, a scalable and globally deployed data lake with open data formats for easy access and analysis.
• Shortcuts: Virtualize data connections across various storage systems (cloud/on-prem) for a unified view in OneLake.
• Mirroring: Continuously replicates data from operational databases into OneLake for seamless data access.

Check out Unlock Your Analytics Potential with Microsoft Fabric Webinar for more insights.

How Bitwise Can Help

At Bitwise, we understand the transformative power of technology. We’re excited about the innovations unveiled at Microsoft Ignite 2024 and being a Microsoft partner, we are committed to helping you leverage these advancements to achieve your business goals.

Bitwise can help you accelerate your data modernization journey by:

• Modernizing Legacy Data Platforms: Migrating your legacy data platforms to the cloud to improve performance, scalability, and security.
• Optimizing Data Pipelines: Designing and implementing efficient data pipelines to extract valuable insights from your data.
• Leveraging AI and Machine Learning: Implementing AI and machine learning solutions to automate tasks, improve decision-making, and drive innovation.
• Adopting Microsoft Fabric: Helping you adopt Microsoft Fabric to unify your data, streamline analytics, and accelerate time to insight.

In fact, earlier this year we launched our Microsoft Fabric Readiness Program to help clients plan and implement the steps needed to modernize their data for the AI era that we’re now living in.

Conclusion

Microsoft Ignite 2024 has set the stage for a future driven by AI, cloud innovation, and developer empowerment. The evolution of Microsoft Fabric, the integration of AI-powered features, and the enhancements to Power BI are set to make data more accessible, secure, and impactful. By embracing these trends and partnering with Bitwise, you can take advantage of these innovative capabilities by accelerating data modernization to get ready for Microsoft Fabric faster. We’re here to help you unlock the full potential of your data by modernizing your data to the cloud.

The post Microsoft Ignite 2024: AI, Cloud Innovation & Microsoft Fabric for Business Transformation appeared first on Bitwise.

Microsoft Fabric is a revolutionary data management and analytics platform designed to unlock the full potential of your data. By offering a unified approach to data ingestion, preparation, governance, and analysis, the unified AI-powered data analytics platform empowers businesses to gain deeper insights and make data-driven decisions faster.

But before diving into Microsoft Fabric, it’s crucial to assess your organization’s readiness to ensure a smooth and successful adoption.

This blog post outlines 5 key steps to help you evaluate your current data landscape and determine your organization’s readiness to leverage the Microsoft data fabric platform for your advanced analytics and AI use cases.

1. Analyze Current Data Environment

The first step is to understand your existing data ecosystem. This involves mapping your data sources, formats, volumes, and how they flow through your current ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processes. Identifying data quality issues, inconsistencies, and siloes is also crucial. By taking a comprehensive inventory of your data environment, you can gain valuable insights into potential challenges and opportunities Microsoft Fabric can address.

2. Define Business Needs and Objectives

What are your key business objectives for leveraging data? Are you looking to improve reporting and analytics, drive data-driven decision-making, or unlock actionable insights from your data sources? Clearly defining your business needs and objectives helps you determine how Microsoft unified analytics platform can contribute to achieving your strategic goals.

3. Assess Technical Readiness

Technical readiness involves evaluating your infrastructure, existing data tools, and team skillsets to determine if they align with Microsoft Fabric’s capabilities. Here are some key considerations:

• Infrastructure: Does your current infrastructure support migrating to the cloud?
• Data tools: Are your current tools compatible with Fabric’s services, like Azure Data Factory (ADF) or Azure Databricks?
• Team skills: Does your team have the necessary skills and expertise to work with Fabric technologies?

4. Develop Migration Planning and Execution

A well-defined migration plan is critical for transitioning your data workloads to Microsoft Fabric. This includes:

• Prioritization: Identifying the most critical data pipelines to migrate first.
• Resource allocation: Planning for the personnel and resources necessary to execute the migration.
• Risk assessment: Anticipating potential challenges and developing mitigation strategies.

For a deeper dive into our proven methodology for migrating ETL jobs to the Microsoft unified analytics platform, check out our recorded webinar Microsoft Fabric: Is Your Business Ready?.

5. Provide Ongoing Optimization

Microsoft Fabric adoption is an ongoing process. After migration, continuous monitoring and optimization are crucial to ensure your data platform operates at peak performance. This involves regularly reviewing data quality, identifying inefficiencies, and implementing optimizations to maximize the value derived from your data.

Fabric Readiness Workshop: Get Ready for Success

As a Microsoft Solutions Partner working closely with the Microsoft Fabric product team to strengthen our capability to migrate data, ETL, and BI workloads to Microsoft Fabric, Bitwise is excited to be a key part of our customers’ transformations to unlock their full potential of Microsoft Fabric. Elevate your data strategy to make sure your organization is prepared for Microsoft Fabric. Enroll in our exclusive Microsoft Fabric Readiness Workshop now! This 3-hour workshop provides valuable insights into Microsoft Fabric’s capabilities and helps you develop a customized roadmap for successful implementation.

FabCon: A Glimpse into the Future of Data Analytics

Microsoft Fabric Community Conference (FabCon) Europe that took place in Stockholm earlier this year was a valuable event for anyone interested in Microsoft Fabric. The key announcements highlighted the platform’s continued evolution and its ability to meet the growing demands of modern data management. Read our blog to learn more about the 3 Key Microsoft Fabric Announcements from FabCon Europe.

Don’t miss the upcoming Microsoft Fabric Community Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada from March 31st to April 2nd, 2025, with workshops happening on March 29th, 30th, and April 3rd. This year’s conference promises an exciting lineup of speakers, informative sessions, and valuable networking opportunities to help you attain the full potential of Microsoft Fabric. Register now for Microsoft Fabric Community Conference 2025 and secure your spot.

The post 5 Essential Steps to Assess Your Readiness for Microsoft Fabric Adoption appeared first on Bitwise.

FabCon Europe in Stockholm this September was a resounding success, bringing together Microsoft Fabric enthusiasts and partners from across the continent. The event showcased the latest advancements in the platform and provided valuable insights for organizations looking to leverage Fabric for their data initiatives.

In this blog post, we’ll recap some of the key Microsoft Fabric announcements from FabCon Europe and highlight Bitwise’s Microsoft Fabric Readiness Program, designed to help organizations accelerate their adoption of this powerful data analytics platform.

3 Key Microsoft Fabric Announcements

1. Enhancements for Fabric Data Factory Pipelines

One of the most exciting announcements at FabCon Europe was the introduction of new enhancements for Fabric Data Factory pipelines. These enhancements aim to streamline data integration and transformation processes, making it easier for organizations to build and manage complex data pipelines. Some of the key features include:

• Improved performance: Enhanced pipeline execution speed and resource utilization.
• Enhanced monitoring and diagnostics: Improved tools for troubleshooting and optimizing pipeline performance.
• Expanded data source support: Support for additional data sources and formats.

2. Private Preview of Microsoft Fabric Capacity Calculator

Microsoft also announced the private preview of the Microsoft Fabric SKU Calculator that helps organizations estimate the required compute and storage resources for their Fabric workloads, ensuring they have the right capacity to meet their needs.

The calculator is designed to simplify the process of provisioning Fabric resources and optimize costs. With a straightforward interface, the calculator provides outputs on recommended Fabric SKUs for the infrastructure based on inputs.

3. DP-700 Exam for Data Engineering Using Fabric

For individuals looking to validate their skills in data engineering using Microsoft Fabric, Microsoft introduced the DP-700 exam. This beta exam, available from late October 2024, covers a wide range of topics related to data integration, transformation, warehousing, governance, and Fabric administration.

By passing the DP-700 exam, individuals can demonstrate their expertise in implementing data engineering solutions using Microsoft Fabric and open up new career opportunities, especially as data engineering skills become essential in the era of AI.

Microsoft Fabric Readiness Program from Bitwise

Bitwise is committed to helping organizations maximize the value of Microsoft Fabric. Our Microsoft Fabric Readiness Program offers a comprehensive suite of services designed to accelerate your adoption of the platform. These services include:

• Assessment and planning: We conduct a thorough assessment of your current data landscape and develop a tailored roadmap for Fabric adoption
• Migration and modernization: We assist with migrating your existing data workloads to Fabric and modernizing your data architecture.
• Training and enablement: We provide training and support to help your team become proficient in using Fabric.
• Ongoing support: We offer ongoing support to ensure the success of your Fabric implementation.

By partnering with Bitwise, you can benefit from our deep expertise in Fabric and our proven track record of delivering successful implementations. Discover how Microsoft Fabric can revolutionize your organization’s data management and analysis capabilities.

See You at FabCon in 2025

FabCon Europe was a valuable event for anyone interested in Microsoft Fabric. The key announcements highlighted the platform’s continued evolution and its ability to meet the growing demands of modern data management.

As a Microsoft Solutions Partner working closely with the Fabric product team to strengthen our capability to migrate data, ETL and BI workloads to Fabric, Bitwise is excited to be a key part of our customer’s transformation to unlock the full potential of Fabric.

Stay tuned to get more updates from Microsoft Fabric Community Conference and we look forward to seeing you in Las Vegas or Vienna in 2025!

The post 3 Key Microsoft Fabric Announcements from FabCon Europe   appeared first on Bitwise.

SQL Server data warehouses typically utilize SQL Server for database, SQL Server Integration Service (SSIS) for data integration, SQL Server Reporting Service (SSRS) for BI reports, and SQL Server Analytics Service (SSAS) for analytical needs.

For legacy data warehouses developed with end-of-support versions of SQL Server, maintenance costs can become a challenge, which is one reason to look at modernizing your SQL Server data warehouse.

The greater urgency for modernization, though, is to get your data ready to meet requirements of the modern era including advanced analytics and AI applications, which can be seriously limited by data trapped in legacy data warehouse systems.

Best Options for SQL Server Data Warehouse Modernization

There are several SQL Server End of Support options available for SQL Server Data Warehouse Migration, but these need to be assessed to identify the best fit for your individual needs. In such cases, working with an experienced consulting partner can assist you with the right approach and design strategy to meet future data warehouse requirements.

For instance, Bitwise worked with a Fortune 500 company that had an on-premise SQL Server system that was not providing the desired value for its stakeholders. Bitwise assisted with a data warehouse system architecture assessment to assess alternatives to modernize the legacy data warehouse in Azure with options to utilize Azure Data Factory (ADF) for data integration, Power BI for reporting and Azure SQL MI for the database.

SQL Server Migration to Azure

For decades, companies have been running business intelligence and data warehouse applications with SQL Server databases. These systems have proven to be reliable for organizations both large and small, but as the center of gravity for data and AI shifts to cloud technology, the benefits of modernizing your databases cannot be neglected.

For instance, Bitwise helped a data center solution provider enhance performance with increased data access by accelerating on-premise SQL Server database migration to Azure SQL Server Managed Instance. By going with a consumption-based model in Azure, the client also reduced the burden of maintaining software and hardware infrastructure.

To explore further, check out the SQL Server Data Migration to Azure SQL MI offer on Azure Marketplace for an optimal approach to modernizing with streamlined engagement model and minimal downtime.

SSIS Modernization in ADF or Fabric

With data migration tools available from Microsoft, many organizations often attempt to migrate their SQL Server data warehouse to Azure. While some organizations may be comfortable handling data and SSAS migrations, they often run into problems with SSIS migration to Azure.

There can be drastic differences between SSIS, which is a traditional data integration tool, and cloud services like ADF or Microsoft Fabric Dataflows Gen 2 that are difficult to overcome without any migration automation. Data validation also plays a critical role that gets overlooked until it’s too late.

To illustrate, Bitwise helped a multinational organization achieve significant cost savings with accelerated SSIS ETL Migration to Azure Data Factory. The solution addressed major gaps in the on-premise system by implementing coding best practices and disaster recovery with minimal disruption to the live applications during migration.

Getting Started with a SQL Server Modernization Partner

The limitations of legacy SQL Server data warehouses can stifle business growth and companies staying with older versions carry risks of unsupported systems. With the right strategy to modernize in Microsoft Azure or Fabric, companies can reduce risk, minimize cost and drive innovation.

With the SSIS ETL Migration to ADF offer in Azure Marketplace, you can explore a proven strategy for accelerating migration with automation at each phase of assessment, code conversion and data validation that overcomes the challenges of modernizing SSIS packages.

Learn more about how Bitwise partners with Microsoft to offer a team of experts that can help you understand all aspects of modernization for your SQL Server data warehouse. Our team can walk through the options and showcase the best automation tools and migration methodologies to accelerate time-to-value in the cloud and get your data ready for AI success.

The post Modernization Secrets for your SQL Server Data Warehouse appeared first on Bitwise.

Challenges of migrating PL/SQL to cloud

There are a number of options for converting PL/SQL code to cloud-native systems. Tools like SnowConvert from Snowflake and AWS Schema Conversion tool can apply for certain scenarios and there are manual conversion and other third-party tool options.

Even with these tools, migrating PL/SQL code to Synapse or Snowflake can be a challenging and time-consuming process. Challenges include:

• Understanding the legacy code – PL/SQL code can be complex and difficult to understand, especially for code that was written many years ago.
• Reproducing the functionality – The goal of the migration is to reproduce the same functionality as the legacy code in the new environment. This can be difficult to do, especially if the code is not well-documented.
• Testing the migrated code – Once the code has been migrated, it needs to be thoroughly tested to ensure that it is working correctly. This can be a time-consuming and error-prone process.

Using AI to overcome challenges and accelerate data modernization

When harnessed properly, artificial intelligence (AI) can help overcome a lot of the complexity that causes challenges when migrating to the cloud. Key areas where you can use AI to modernize your PL/SQL code in Synapse or Snowflake include:

• Analyze the legacy code – AI can help identify patterns, dependencies, other important information that can be used to make the code easier to understand and accelerate migration.
• Generate new code – using AI to replicate the functionality of the legacy PL/SQL code can save a significant amount of time and effort when converting to Synapse or Snowflake.
• Test the migrated code – testing the migrated code and identifying any errors or defects is a critically important and difficult step in the modernization process, which can be assisted with AI to ensure that the migrated code is working correctly.

Generative AI approach to PL/SQL code conversion

Generative AI opens new doors for confronting the issues of tedious code conversion and optimization to accelerate your data modernization journey. With our advanced knowledge of PL/SQL code and deep experience modernizing data in Synapse and Snowflake, Bitwise has created powerful modules for transforming and validating code, including:

• Code Converter – provides effortless conversion that automates code migration and modernization utilizing Gen AI. Its batch processing feature allows increased efficiency for automated PL/SQL conversion.
• Code Optimizer – assesses code with Gen AI and suggests optimization designed to your specific goals. Code optimizer reduces space complexity, time and improves error handling assuring fine-tuned performance.
• Code Documenter – automates the commenting and documentation process allowing a clear, comprehensible code base and can delve into variables, functions and defined objects. This not only enhances code readability but also adding to long-term maintainability.
• Migrated Code Validation Utility – provides support for heterogeneous data sources and file types using a unique approach of in-memory comparison without moving the data across data stores. The utility generates comprehensive comparison and summary reports with synopsis of mismatched data and overall comparison stats to pinpoint any potential errors.

Conclusion

AI-powered PL/SQL code conversion to Synapse and Snowflake can be a challenging task, but it is a necessary step for enterprises that are looking to modernize their data and move to the cloud. AI can be used to overcome the challenges of migration and accelerate data modernization initiatives.

While using AI can be a game-changer for modernizing your PL/SQL code in Synapse or Snowflake, building the right AI competencies and using optimal prompt engineering with Generative AI comes with its own set of challenges. Our team has gone through extensive trial and error to perfect the steps needed to effectively harness AI to successfully convert PL/SQL code. Explore our Data Migration and Modernization solutions to see how we accelerate PL/SQL code conversion.

The post How to use AI to modernize your PL/SQL code in Synapse or Snowflake appeared first on Bitwise.

Key Components of Microsoft Fabric

OneLake

Fabric introduces OneLake, a revolutionary built-in SaaS multi-cloud data lake in which workloads are automatically connected to a central, unified storage unit, just like OneDrive integrating effortlessly with Microsoft 365 applications.

Figure: OneLake

Source: Microsoft Fabric documentation

OneLake eliminates the need for individual teams to create their own data silos, freeing them from the shackles of disorganized data storage. Instead, it provides a single source of truth, making data discovery and sharing a breeze. No more hunting through scattered repositories – the data you need is readily available, empowering collaboration and innovation across your entire organization.

Here’s how OneLake helps you:

• Maximize the potential of data: Break down data silos and unlock hidden insights with a unified view of all your information.
• Simplifies data discovery and sharing: Access and share data with ease, fostering collaboration and accelerating innovation.
• Eliminates data duplication and vendor lock-in: Store your data in a secure, cloud-agnostic platform, free from proprietary formats and vendor restrictions.
• Empowers teams with self-service BI and analytics: Provide your team with the tools and resources they need to analyze data and make informed decisions on their own.

With OneLake, data management becomes effortless, leaving you free to focus on what truly matters – extracting valuable insights and driving business success. Microsoft Fabric enables data experts to efficiently store, ingest, store, process and assess data in a unified platform.  

Power BI

A cornerstone of Microsoft Fabric, Power BI enables users to transform raw data into captivating visualizations, providing a clear and intuitive way to explore and understand complex datasets. With its rich array of charts, graphs, and maps, Power BI empowers business users, analysts, and data scientists alike to uncover hidden patterns, trends, and anomalies within the data.

Figure: A real-time analytics use case with Microsoft Fabric

Source: Microsoft Fabric documentation

Data Factory

This tool tackles the complexities of data integration, seamlessly connecting disparate data sources across the enterprise. This powerful tool automates data ingestion, transformation, and movement, ensuring that data is consistently available for analysis and decision-making.

Data Activator

This helps organizations by taking data-driven automation to the next level. By monitoring data streams for predefined patterns and thresholds, Data Activator triggers automated actions, such as sending notifications, updating dashboards, or even initiating workflows, ensuring that critical insights are acted upon promptly.

Synapse Data Engineering

It empowers organizations to create and manage a lakehouse, a unified data repository that stores both structured and unstructured data in its native format. Leveraging the power of Apache Spark, Synapse Data Engineering enables data engineers to transform and prepare data for analysis and sharing, ensuring that the right data is available to the right people at the right time.

Synapse Data Science

This facilitates data scientists with a comprehensive environment for exploring, modeling, and deploying machine learning solutions. With its integrated notebooks, vast libraries, and scalable compute resources, it can extract predictive insights from data, empowering businesses to make data-driven decisions that anticipate future trends and opportunities.

Synapse Data Warehouse

It provides a secure, open-data-format SQL warehouse that scales efficiently to handle petabytes of data. With its high performance and flexibility, Synapse Data Warehouse enables organizations to store, analyze, and share complex datasets, supporting a wide range of business intelligence and analytics applications.

Synapse Real-Time Analytics

Analytics empowers organizations to ingest, transform, and query data streams from various sources, ranging from gigabytes to petabytes, at lightning speed. This real-time data processing capability enables businesses to gain immediate insights from their data, allowing them to make informed decisions and respond to changing conditions in real-time.

Key Benefits of Microsoft Fabric

Microsoft data fabric offers a myriad of benefits for organizations, enabling them to:

• Unify Data Management: Consolidate data from disparate sources into a single, centralized repository, eliminating data silos and ensuring data consistency.
• Streamline Data Preparation: Automate data ingestion, transformation, and cleansing processes, reducing manual effort and improving data quality.
• Empower Data Analysts: Provide data analysts with a self-service platform for data exploration and analysis, enabling them to quickly generate insights.
• Drive Data-Driven Decision-Making: Facilitate data sharing and collaboration across departments, fostering a data-driven culture and enabling informed decisions.

Microsoft Fabric and AI

Copilot is recognized as the AI assistant that helps programmers write codes with the use of Modern AI and large language models. The users can handle complex cognitive tasks effectively. Microsoft has been planning to build an ecosystem of copilots with plugins. These plugins will be useful for tools by enabling them to interact with other services and software. The objective of this is to make developers independent by enabling them to build their copilots. The main strength of Copilot in Microsoft Fabric includes AI-assisted help, personalization, machine learning, personalization and understanding of human language.

According to Microsoft: “With Copilot in Microsoft Fabric in every data experience, users can use conversational language to create dataflows and data pipelines, generate code and entire functions, build machine learning models, or visualize results.”

Best Practices to Maximize Microsoft Fabric’s Potential

To fully leverage the capabilities of Fabric’s AI-powered analytics platform, organizations can adopt the following best practices:

• Establish a Clear Data Strategy: Define a clear data strategy aligned with business objectives to guide data initiatives and ensure that data investments align with business goals.
• Emphasize Data Governance: Implement robust data governance policies to ensure data quality, security, and compliance.
• Foster Data Literacy: Educate employees on data concepts and provide training on using data analytics tools to empower data-driven decision-making at all levels.
• Promote Data Collaboration: Encourage collaboration between data teams and business units to break down silos and foster a shared understanding of data-driven insights.
• Embrace Continuous Improvement: Continuously evaluate and refine data processes and tools to ensure that data strategies remain relevant and effective.

Adopting Fabric in Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Environments

While the benefits of Fabric are compelling for unifying your organization’s data in a platform purpose-built for advanced analytics and AI, the reality is that most organizations have hybrid and multi-cloud environments that can complicate the pathway to adoption of Fabric.

For example, organizations with on-premise databases and ETL processing need a strategy for modernizing those workloads when implementing a Fabric solution. Data modernization has been a key trend for several years now, yet many organizations still have significant on-premise database footprints in systems like SQL Server, Oracle, Teradata and Netezza and ETL in tools like SSIS, DataStage, Ab Initio and Informatica PowerCenter.

Likewise, organizations with cloud data warehouses in Snowflake or Databricks need to decide whether to integrate those with Fabric or migrate to Fabric. As Fabric builds more robust functionality into the platform, adopting a “Better Together” solution with Azure Databricks and Fabric could be an option to keep complex processing in Databricks while running core workloads in Fabric.

Working with a Microsoft Solutions Partner can help explore the possible options and identify the optimal data strategy for your specific environment. Specialized partners can even assist in the migration process with unique solutions like automated ETL migration to accelerate the modernization of on-premise workflows to Fabric.

Conclusion

With proper strategy, planning and best practices, organizations can effectively utilize Microsoft Fabric to transform their organizations into data-driven enterprises, unlocking new possibilities for innovation and growth. Microsoft unified analytics platform empowers organizations to become strategic partners in driving business success, enabling them to harness the power of data to make informed decisions and optimize operations.

Ready to unlock the true potential of your data? Let Bitwise, an experienced Microsoft partner, provide an independent perspective on Microsoft Fabric to guide you on your advanced analytics and AI journey. Get in touch today and discover how we can help you leverage Fabric and transform your data into a powerhouse of growth.

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