Hevo Data Pipelines
Centralizes customer data for fast analytics but has struggled with many concurrent data pipelines
What is our primary use case?
I can give you a specific example of how I use Hevo to move data between databases and Snowflake. We had one software application that had over 500 customers; however, that application, even though it was a SaaS app, had one Azure SQL Server database per customer, and in those databases, there were four different schemas. I needed to get that data from that application, as well as data from other applications using different databases, different public clouds, and different infrastructure into Snowflake. Using Hevo, I tested that it worked well to move data, made four pipelines for one database manually, and then scripted that using the Hevo API to create effectively 2,000 pipelines for this one application. We had all the data from 500 Azure SQL Server databases with a similar structure into a single Snowflake data warehouse, transforming some of the data to prevent it from overwriting itself from all the different customers.
This specific example illustrates how I effectively used Hevo for that application with 500 Azure SQL Server databases, four different schemas in each database, making 2,000 Hevo pipelines, turning on change tracking in the source database, specifying the tables and fields needed, mapping it out to our destination data warehouse in Snowflake, and letting those pipelines run.
What is most valuable?
The simplicity and fast setup of Hevo significantly benefited my team and organization because we didn't run into challenges while getting started, although we did hit some limits later. We managed to get started very quickly without any challenges. That simplicity and fast setup were crucial as we struggled with other tools that were costly and complicated. We tried to work out how to use AWS tools to get data from some databases, but many of their options weren't available via the GUI, requiring extensive scripting knowledge. Hevo enabled us to sign up and seamlessly go through the steps of connecting our source database and setting up our destination. While other products had complexity and high costs, Hevo made it super easy to get started and moving.
The documentation of Hevo was good, providing clear step-by-step guidance on what to do for specific source or destination systems to be ready for moving data around.
Hevo positively impacted my organization by allowing us to move data quickly and easily, enabling us to focus on our real challenge: performing analytics and reporting out of Snowflake with all customer data centralized despite using various applications. Hevo allowed us to prioritize our analytical work and minimized my time spent on data movement, which typically is a complicated and lengthy process.
I don't have specific metrics or numbers, but I can say we saved time because we were struggling with other products; we had spent weeks trying to work out AWS Glue and other tools. With Hevo, we got it done quickly, saving a massive amount of time in setup, testing, and going live. It let us focus on analyzing data instead of moving it. Although I don't have quantifiable metrics, it's clear that it saved us considerable time, and while it didn't impact employee needs, it definitely freed up significant resources.
What needs improvement?
Additionally, the API was slower to release compared to the user interface and was not feature-complete, which was frustrating. That said, Hevo actively worked on bridging many gaps. Overall, these were significant pain points I encountered.
For how long have I used the solution?
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
How are customer service and support?
How was the initial setup?
I don't have precise metrics, but I can say we saved time with Hevo, getting started quickly. We spent several weeks trying to make alternate products work, but with Hevo, we were up and productive within an hour, which saved us a substantial amount of time. The ongoing maintenance was minimal, so we could focus on analytical and reporting tasks without needing to consider the data movement logistics. Hevo facilitated that process, but I don't have any quantifiable numbers.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
What other advice do I have?
Hevo didn't have any AI capabilities, so I cannot comment on its accuracy and reliability of output.
Hevo is deployed in my organization as a SaaS application on whatever infrastructure Hevo operates, which I assume is the public cloud.
My advice for others looking into using Hevo is to use it to test out your concept. Hevo is a great tool for that purpose.
I would rate this product a 7 out of 10.
Empowered Our Data Pipeline with Outstanding Support
Responsive Support, Easy Setup, and Plenty of Database & API Integrations
Streamlines ETL with Responsive Support
Easy Pipeline Setup, Great Performance, and Outstanding Hevo Support
Performance is great and usually reflects the data freshness provided by the connected platform.
Hevo makes making data pipelines a breeze
There's a wide variety of supported data sources and destinations like RDS and Snowflake which is what we use in our tech stack. Setup is really simple and live chat support is very responsive in the rare instances where further assistance is needed. We have all kinds of different use cases that are surprisingly supported, such as even a Google drive spreadsheet which enables data needs from even non-technical teammates.
Another poor experience is if things really are not going well an often suggested solution is to run a whole new historical load which can take a very long time to resolve for large data sets.