What Can Confluent Do?
Author: Riley Martin
Release Date: 11/08/2023
Data is everywhere in everything we do. From the ones and zeros that interpreted the keyboard presses writing this blog, to the bank transfers wiring millions of pounds across the world every day.
In a data centric world, it is important that we have access to data exactly when we need it. Traditionally data has been held “at rest” in databases and tables that have to be searched with manual tools which slows down the process to a slow grind making accessing your data the bottle neck to your processing speeds when it should be the thing that makes the whole process go and go quickly. Confluent enables you to put that data in motion utilising data flows to harness real-time data, where it is needed, when it is produced.
At the heart of the solution lies Kafka, an open source platform that powers the aforementioned data flows and stream processing. Confluent acts as a layer on top of Kafka to handle all the busywork of maintaining the open source system to let you focus on using your data in the most efficient, real-time way as possible.
There is not just one use case for Confluent since almost any industry or business uses data in the modern day, almost any business can take advantage of Confluent Kafka to transform data from static to real-time flows. For some examples however, we’ll go over a few possibilities or use cases to provide some context
Retail - Inventory Management and Personalisation
At scale managing and ordering stock can be a mammoth task – if it’s done badly it can result in empty shelves, unhappy customers and lost profits. Confluent has proven itself with major brands like Walmart, showing what you can do when you have access to all your transactions and inventory data in real time. At any point the stock and needs of a store can be pinpointed and used to decide what should be ordered when.
This example presents an interesting example of one of Confluents strengths, a company using Confluent to help their inventory management has at their fingertips transaction data from every one of their stores. In theory this could have uses, for example loyalty programs might see a product has had an uptick in sales and decide to push a promotion to encourage other people to buy it. Confluent is built to make consuming data from it as frictionless as possible, if you already have a process like this but for batch data integrating it with Confluent isn’t a battle of trying to get 2 systems to talk to each other – all you need to do is ingest the data using one of Confluents connectors or SDKs.
Automotive
Using data in motion, many in the automotive industry can utilise real time data to enhance the creation of vehicles and the software in modern vehicles. Confluent is used to decouple systems but still allow these systems to communicate with each other, share data, and distribute information throughout the different systems. Confluent also allows for real time updates to GPS systems, updating routes or journey times in real time to accommodate for delays or unexpected road closures resulting in a different route than was expected
Fraud Detection
Real time data is key in all things finance. From the transfer of a few quid between friends to pay for a takeaway to business putting through multi-million pound transactions, there are transactions happening almost 24/7 around the world. How many of these transactions are genuine? Does the account sending money have the money required before it is sent?
With Confluent you don’t need to rely on hefty batch processes that take place and detect fraudulent transactions hours after they occur, only realising 2 transactions have occurred on the opposite ends of the earth hours after it has taken place. With Confluents real time capabilities as soon as a transaction takes place fraud detection algorithms receive the information for this transaction (as well as any others that have recently occurred) and determine if it is legitimate.
The many additions Confluent makes over OSK make this kind of critical use case viable at an enterprise scale with significantly reduced effort – with multi region cluster capabilities to guarantee availability, built in RBAC and audit log capabilities for compliance and security.
These are by far not the only uses for Confluent, there are endless possibilities and limitless use cases for Confluent. As long as there is data involved, Confluent and Kafka can bring that data to life and revitalise your business into the 21st century and beyond.
If you are curious about what Confluent can do for you and your business, contact Somerford Associates for more information and a chat about where Confluent can take you.
More Resources like this one:
Why Confluent and What is it Used for?
—Confluent Cloud and Kafka Explained | Technology Podcast
Confluent Explained in 60 Seconds
— Leverage Apache Kafka® to Process Real-Time Data
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