Emerald is a leading organizer of live B2B trade shows, conferences, and integrated market platforms that connect buyers and sellers across diverse industries. Emerald’s B2B ecommerce platform, Elastic Suite, enables brand manufacturers, like The North Face and Stanley PMI, to streamline wholesale ordering, inventory management, and sales collaboration with retail buyers.

To manage the massive volumes of product data from brand manufacturers, Elastic turned to SkySQL to handle data integration and transformation at scale.  By leveraging SkySQL, Elastic has enhanced its data operations, ensuring a seamless, reliable, and scalable solution for their B2B platform.

Challenges:

Elastic needed a robust, scalable solution to process vast amounts of product data from brand manufacturers. The challenge stemmed from:

• Lack of Scalability and Cost of Database Management:  With the increasing number of clients and large datasets, the existing on-prem database could not scale without over-provisioning and required dedicated DBA resources to manage and maintain.

• Performance Considerations: Directly loading large datasets (ranging from tens to hundreds of millions of records) into the Elastic platform would cause performance bottlenecks.

• Data Transformation Needs: Raw data required validation and transformation before being sent to Elastic 

• Diverse Data Sources: Clients use different ERP systems, APIs, and file formats (flat files, XML, JSON) to submit data.

Solution: 

To address these challenges, Elastic migrated to the SkySQL managed cloud database on AWS as the scalable central data integration and transformation processing layer:

• Data Integration: Elastic uses Talend (part of Qlik) to pull data from client’s ERP systems via APIs and file uploads.

• Data Processing & Transformation: The data is loaded into SkySQL, where it is validated and transformed.

• Batch Processing Efficiency: Large volumes of data are processed in batches, primarily overnight, to optimize performance.

• Seamless Data Transfer: Transformed data is extracted from SkySQL in CSV format and uploaded to Elastic.

• Efficient Database Management: SkySQL handled database management, reducing the need for a dedicated DBA. In addition, the SkySQL platform provided autoscaling as compute and storage requirements increased.

Seeing the Results: 

"SkySQL has transformed how we handle data integration and processing at Elastic. The ability to scale effortlessly, process vast amounts of data efficiently, and eliminate database maintenance overhead has been a game-changer for us. We no longer worry about infrastructure limitations, and our team can focus on delivering value to our clients instead of managing databases. "

— Alex Igolnikov, Director of Data Integration, Emerald

Scalability & Performance Gains

With SkySQL, Elastic scaled from a little over one hundred clients on its previous on-prem MariaDB system to several hundred clients without worrying about infrastructure limitations and manual scaling. SkySQL’s cloud-native architecture ensures smooth data processing, even for the largest manufacturers.

Operational Efficiency & Cost Savings

With SkySQL significantly reducing database maintenance overhead and autoscaling capabilities, Elastic was able to reallocate their dedicated DBA resource, eliminate over-provisioning of database servers, and focus on strategic initiatives.

Reliability & Future-Readiness

Elastic has positioned itself for continued growth by fully migrating to the cloud. With SkySQL handling database administration, providing business continuity with multiple disaster recovery options, and offering proactive expert support of SkyDBA fractional DBAs, the company can focus on optimizing its platform experience for manufacturers and retailers.

Charting a New Course Forward 

By leveraging SkySQL, Elastic has built a scalable, efficient data pipeline that empowers manufacturers to list and sell products seamlessly through the B2B platform. The transition to SkySQL has not only streamlined data integration and transformation but also enabled Elastic to grow its client base while reducing operational burdens.

SkySQL has become a critical part of Elastic’s infrastructure, supporting its vision of connecting businesses through seamless digital commerce.

About Elastic Suite (Elastic)

Elastic Suite is a B2B e-commerce platform built for wholesale, enabling brands, distributors, and retailers to simplify and streamline order transactions and operations. Elastic supports B2B sales for over 275 brand manufacturers, including name brands like The North Face, New Balance, and Stanley PMI. The platform optimizes the wholesale buying experience with interactive ordering tools and advanced merchandising features, driven by real-time data and analytics.

With more than 25 years of industry expertise, Elastic provides global customer support, enterprise-grade security, and flexible solutions built to scale and encourage growth. Our dedicated integration and client success teams ensure a smooth rollout and continuous optimizations as the retail landscape undergoes constant change.

Discover how Elastic Suite can transform your B2B commerce experience—visit elasticsuite.com to learn more.

About Emerald

Emerald’s talented and experienced team grows our customers’ businesses 365 days a year through connections, content, and commerce. We expand connections that drive new business opportunities, product discovery, and relationships with over 140 annual events, matchmaking, and lead-gen services. We create content to ensure that our customers are on the cutting edge of their industries and are continually developing their skills. And we power commerce through efficient year-round buying and selling. We do all this by seamlessly integrating in-person and digital platforms and channels. Emerald is immersed in the industries we serve and committed to supporting the communities in which we operate. As true partners, we create experiences that inspire, amaze, and deliver breakthrough results. For more information, visit  www.emeraldx.com .

SkySQL Inc

SkySQL, the ultimate AI-driven, serverless cloud database service for the MySQL/MariaDB ecosystem, redefines data management by automating deployment, scaling, and administration. This cutting-edge platform frees up resources, letting you focus on strategic initiatives. With SkySQL, operational complexities are streamlined, unlocking the full potential of your data without compromising efficiency.

At the heart of SkySQL is its ability to seamlessly adapt to changing demands, providing a robust foundation for applications. The platform’s user-friendly interface and comprehensive features make it accessible to both experts and newcomers to the cloud environment. Experience a new era of efficient and innovative database management with SkySQL, propelling your business forward.