The startup sector in the US continues to be the strongest in the world. A report from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Business Formation Statistic shows that approximately 5.5 million businesses were launched in the US last year, a record for new startups. The goal of these startups is to reach unicorn status and achieve a valuation of one billion dollars or more.
In order to reach this level of success, many startups are collecting vast quantities of data and using different data management systems to sort and store this data. Startups need to be agile and ready to scale in order to be competitive, which is why many are using NoSQL databases over the more traditional SQL databases to store data in a more natural and flexible way. If you are a startup that is undecided on which data management system to employ, below are 5 benefits of using NoSQL databases.
Flexibility
Compared to an SQL database, which stores data in a more rigid and predefined structure, NoSQL databases are much more flexible and can effortlessly handle any data format, including structured, semi-structured, and non-structured data. The four major types of NoSQL databases that have emerged are document databases, key-value databases, wide-column stores, and graph databases. These different NoSQL databases allow for the storage and retrieval of multiple types of data. This allows startups to easily adapt to new types of data and quickly evolve their plans to meet any changing data requirements.
Scalability
The success of a startup is often down to its ability to quickly scale as the business expands. Developer Tim O’Brien, in his article NoSQL Out of the Gate: A FinOps Perspective for Startups argues that the advantage of NoSQL databases is that they are designed for scalability. This allows a startup to grow without having to start again when using new data systems. O’Brien wrote that he “witnessed too many failed architectures or transitions from application architectures coupled to a relational schema that must be almost rewritten from scratch once enough users appear.” NoSQL databases are also designed to scale horizontally, which lets startups handle growing amounts of data simply by adding more servers to the distributed system. This is why it is much more efficient for a startup to use a NoSQL database from the start, especially if they are looking to scale in the near future.
High Performance
Reports show that the big data market volume is expected to reach $84 billion this year for the first time ever, and many startups will be looking to collect and use this vast amount of data. A NoSQL database can handle high data volumes and traffic increases and is optimized to read and write data very quickly. Businesses can use NoSQL databases to deliver high throughput for real-time data processing. This capability ensures that applications can handle peak loads without any performance degradation.
Cloud Storage
As technology evolves, it is becoming clear that the data cloud is transforming businesses, with more companies turning to the cloud to store their data. One benefit of NoSQL databases is that they can be cloud-based database services. As mentioned above, scalability is an important factor of a NoSQL database, and cloud-based NoSQL databases can scale horizontally by simply adding more servers to the cluster. Compared to traditional on-premise databases, this allows for easy scalability as the data volumes increase. Cloud-based NoSQL databases are less expensive to run and maintain because they remove the need for costly hardware and infrastructure, making them ideal for small to medium startups with low overheads.
Ease of Use
To be competitive, startups need to move fast to establish themselves. The technology they use needs to be not only beneficial to the business but also easy to use to maximize the initial startup time. NoSQL databases are developer-friendly because they allow developers to easily modify specific data sets to speed up development. A NoSQL database is also created for specific use cases and doesn’t have a rigid schema. The benefit of this is that it makes them easier to use than SQL databases or general-purpose databases, which are much less flexible. NoSQL databases from established companies also have a community of developers and consultants, making it easy for startups to get the support they need to get the database up and running as quickly as possible.