Systems | Development | Analytics | API | Testing

“AI is inevitable, but is your data ready for all AI has to offer?” That was the unspoken question every keynote, panel, and hallway conversation sought to answer at the 2025 Gartner Data & Analytics (D&A) Summit. Gartner’s response was loud and clear: AI can drive incredible value, but without a good data foundation, it’s garbage in, garbage out.

Last week, we got a question from one of our users asking us how to use Kotlin Apply. Specifically, the reader wanted to know whether it was best to use the apply function in their Android application, or another of the many Kotlin scope functions. So we got to thinking: Why not write an article about the whole topic of Kotlin scope functions? After all, they’re awesome: they let us write readable, concise code in Kotlin, and work with an object without the need for repeated references.

In a time where data is being termed the new oil, businesses need to have a data management system that suits their needs perfectly and positions them to be able to take full advantage of the benefits of being data-driven. Data is being generated at rapid rates and businesses need database systems that can scale up and scale down effortlessly without any extra computational cost.

Data storage has been evolving, from databases to data warehouses and expansive data lakes, with each architecture responding to different business and data needs. Traditional databases excelled at structured data and transactional workloads but struggled with performance at scale as data volumes grew. The data warehouse solved for performance and scale but, much like the databases that preceded it, relied on proprietary formats to build vertically integrated systems.

For many organizations across industries, the era of experimental AI has given way to the era of practical implementation. Even those companies still testing and evaluating AI solutions are shifting away from the art of the possible to focus more closely on what will soon produce measurable ROI. “It will no longer be enough for your organization to merely use AI to win the approval of company leadership,” says Samuel Lee, Product Marketing Director for Financial Services at Snowflake.

In a world where data-driven decisions shape the future of every business, ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processes are the backbone of operational intelligence. For organizations using Microsoft SQL Server, optimizing ETL pipelines isn't just a technical choice—it’s a strategic imperative. With over two decades in the ETL trenches, I’ve seen what works, what fails, and what silently erodes performance behind the scenes.

WSO2 APK (WSO2 API Platform for Kubernetes) provides a robust, Kubernetes-native platform for managing APIs. It’s purpose-built for cloud-native teams requiring fine-grained control over APIs in modern, distributed environments. With support for microservices architecture, secure ingress, and service discovery, APK solves the infrastructure side of the API equation.

The divide between operational and analytical systems has long resulted in data inconsistencies, unreliability, and redundancies. Without a single, unified source of truth, teams interpret information in their own ways—often after the fact. This can lead to downstream data discrepancies, issues, and distrust. Meanwhile, changes to upstream data structures create ripple effects, breaking downstream systems and requiring manual intervention to fix issues.

For QA professionals in financial services, the pressure is unlike any other industry. Whether you’re supporting a multinational bank or a regional credit union, one thing remains the same: even the smallest software error can have massive consequences. A glitch in an online payment system could affect thousands of customers. A regression bug in account processing might trigger a compliance breach.

The Head of Enterprise Data, Analytics & AI at IFF sat down with Fivetran to unpack how to successfully implement AI while balancing both innovation and governance concerns.