Challenge
The General Medical Council (GMC), responsible for regulating medical professionals in the UK, desired to modernize its analytics capabilities. The existing infrastructure relied heavily on legacy, on-premise systems, which limited scalability, slowed innovation, and hindered the adoption of cloud-based analytics tools. While a full shift to real-time analytics remains part of the long-term vision, the more immediate need was a reliable way to bridge on-prem data sources with the new Azure-based analytics stack for driving analytics, reporting and dashboards. The organization also sought to reduce its dependency on data centers and reliance on expensive tools such as Tableau and Informatica, instead enabling greater use of Power BI across departments.
Solution
GMC selected Striim as its Change Data Capture (CDC) platform to stream real-time data from on-premise Siebel CRM into Azure cloud. After evaluating multiple vendors, including Oracle GoldenGate and Qlik, Striim stood out for its ease of use, straightforward pricing, and strong support throughout the process. GMC selected Striim as its solution to continuously stream data from Siebel CRM into Microsoft Azure. After evaluating other options, Striim was chosen for its usability, support, and ability to meet both short-term integration needs and long-term modernization goals. The business change in moving to Azure involves continued advancement and by deploying Striim, has ensured live data is always available for existing and future downstream processes. As GMC continue to transition into Azure, Striim is in place, moving production data to eliminate delays and facilitate reduction of operational strain on the source systems.
Results
- Cost Optimization: By eliminating costly legacy tooling and reducing reliance on on-prem infrastructure, GMC significantly reduced analytics-related operational costs.
- Operational Efficiency: GMC improved performance by reducing data latency, removing time-consuming data copy processes, and freeing up system load previously constrained by batch ETLs.
- Real-Time Readiness: Striim enabled a modernized data pipeline architecture that allows the organization to shift from daily batch updates to near-real-time data availability, setting the foundation for more responsive analytics and reporting.
- Cloud-First Enablement: The implementation supported GMC’s broader cloud strategy by centralizing data in Azure, enhancing Power BI usage, and preparing the organization to phase out costly legacy systems.
- Future-Proofing Analytics: With Striim in place, GMC is well-positioned to expand its analytics footprint, introduce real-time use cases like tribunal hearing updates, and explore advanced AI and ML initiatives in Azure.
