The amount of data we work with today is massive. Everywhere we turn, we give and collect data — at the store, on social media, in our emails, and as we stream new TV shows. In 2025, globally created data is expected to grow to 180 zettabytes, about triple the data we had in 2020.

While access to data has helped humans make breakthroughs in math, medicine, technology, and more, it has also opened up challenges, such as the following:

• Data silos. Data is often hosted in disparate silos, resulting in difficulty in making sense of information as a whole.
• Legacy systems. Technologies must catch up with the speed at which data is growing. Thus, platforms from 10 years ago may not be able to handle the data requirements of today.
• Data security. Companies must protect their customers’ and their own data, as well as comply with strict data policies.
• Too technology-centric. Data technologies must translate into real business value for companies to make the most out of their IT investments.

To address these challenges, 80% of Fortune 100 companies turn to Kafka, an open-source distributed event streaming platform. Apache Kafka is a community-distributed event streaming platform that handles trillions of events per day.

However, self-managing Kafka has its own set of challenges. As you deploy Kafka to more use cases and derive more value, it requires more engineering resources to catch up with each expansion. Eventually, you will find that you need more than the technology and the resources you have to support your growth.

• Rising resource cost. Kafka skills are in high demand in the talent market, with job listings growing by 40% yearly. Meanwhile, your need for internal Kafka resources will grow exponentially. This leads to a steep increase in the total cost of ownership.
• Rising infrastructure costs. Most systems will not be able to scale fast enough to handle fluctuations in data streaming. You will need to over-provision as streaming systems break — not slow down — past capacity.
• Higher business risk. The potential for downtime and security breaches grows as your system grows in complexity.

Deploying Kafka at an enterprise level requires time and resources that may take years to build. Enter Confluent Cloud, a fully managed Kafka service created by the founders of Apache Kafka. It is a cloud-native solution that makes deploying, operating, and scaling Kafka-based data pipelines easier. Confluent delivers the most complete distribution of Kafka, with additional community and commercial features to enhance the streaming experience of operators and developers. It is the key to deploying a central nervous system that breaks down silos and complexity. This groundbreaking data technology can help businesses cope with the current challenges of data, enabling speed, agility, efficiency, and improved user experiences.

1. Fully managed. Offload the operational burden of managing Kafka to a third-party provider, so you can focus on your core business objectives.
2. Fast and Agile. Rapidly build and deploy data pipelines for shorter time-to-market and more agile decision-making.
3. Interoperable. Integrate with various systems and technologies to connect different data sources and unlock insights across the organization.
4. Cost savings. Avoid the high costs associated with managing and scaling Kafka in-house. Reduce the risk of downtime, data loss, and corresponding costs.

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Among Stratpoint customers, a couple of use cases for Confluent Cloud stand out.

• A tollway operator was receiving complaints from motorists. Due to the high volume of vehicles going through their gates, their data system was constantly under stress. After deploying Confluent Cloud with Stratpoint, data transmission was 90% faster. Customer payments were updated in the system in real time, toll transactions were hassle-free, and customers benefited from a seamless travel experience.
• A universal bank needed a data streaming platform to distribute real-time data across its different platforms. Because of the nature of their financial business, the technology must adhere to stringent security requirements. With Confluent Cloud and Stratpoint, the company achieved its digital transformation initiative, while complying with security standards, adhering to best practices, and saving on costs.

As a Confluent Consulting Partner, Stratpoint Technologies can help you set data into motion with accelerated time-to-market, reduced total cost of ownership, and maximized return on investment. For a more detailed discussion of data streaming on Cloud, watch this webinar that we co-hosted with Confluent: https://hubs.ly/Q01QjPtf0

You may also schedule a discovery session with our team by filling out the form below.