Snowflake Talks 'Lengthy' Database Migrations

Snowflake last week exposed the database market's worst-kept secret: It can take six months or longer for customers to move on-premises databases to the cloud.

The challenges of database migrations are sometimes glossed over, so it was interesting to hear the issue brought to light with financial analysts. The topic came up on Snowflake's Q4 earnings call when CFO Mike Scarpelli was asked about the company's net revenue retention rate, which was relatively high at 168%. He explained that metric has been slow to change because it can take customers months to begin using Snowflake's Data Cloud, due to the heavy-lifting involved in database migrations. 

CEO Frank Slootman called database migrations lengthy, expensive, and risky, and said customers are "quite leery of them." There are implications for the cold, hard reality of database migrations. 

• Switching from an installed database can take months

• Data migration tools and services are critical

• IT staff and other resources may be tied up in these project for months

• Existing database operations must continue in parallel

• Compatibility testing is required for apps, drivers, tools, etc.

As discussed in theCloud Database Report(prior to Snowflake's comments): "The reality is it's not easy to uproot installed databases or vendors." 

Aiming for $1B in product revenue

There were other takeaways from Snowflake's earnings call, including guidance for the current fiscal year. Snowflake expects product revenues to hit $1 billion in FY22, which would represent growth of 81% to 84% over the previous year. 

For more, see "Snowflake: 4 Big Steps on Journey to $1 Billion in Data Cloud Revenue." 
 
Cloud Wars Live podcast: I recently said that the term "legacy database vendor" is an oxymoron. To hear my argument, check out the podcast with Bob Evans: Cloud Database Wars: Attack of the Yottabytes!