The Importance of Understanding Databases in 2024

In 2024, you might think databases are something you left behind in a dusty corner of your school IT class. After all, aren’t databases just for techies and data scientists?

In reality, nearly everything in our daily lives revolves around some form of a database, even if we don't always recognize it. Whether you’re sending an email, streaming a show, or ordering a coffee, databases are working silently in the background, making it all possible.

Take Outlook, for instance. What seems like just an email client is, at its core, a sophisticated database managing the flow of your communications. Every email you send, every calendar appointment you set, every contact you add—they’re all meticulously cataloged and stored in databases that ensure you can access your information anytime, anywhere.

The same goes for Microsoft Teams. Behind the chat windows, video calls, and collaborative spaces, there’s a powerful database at work. It keeps track of your conversations, stores shared files, logs meeting notes, and manages team memberships. When you search for an old message, Teams sifts through its database to pull up the exact thread you need, no matter how long ago it was sent.

In fact, nearly every app you interact with on a daily basis is underpinned by a database. Your favorite streaming service? A database keeps track of what you've watched, recommends new shows, and saves your spot when you need to pause. Your grocery delivery app? It’s managing an intricate database that matches your orders to the nearest warehouse, tracks inventory, and predicts what you might want to add to your cart based on past purchases.

Social media platforms are perhaps the most obvious example. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter—all of them rely on massive databases that record your posts, likes, follows, and every interaction you make. These databases don’t just store data; they analyze it to serve you targeted ads, recommend friends, and show you content tailored to your interests.

Even the simple act of ordering a coffee through an app involves a database. Your usual order is saved, your payment information is stored, and the app knows which store is closest to you—all because of the data that’s been logged and indexed behind the scenes.

But this convenience comes with a realization: to truly understand the world we live in, it's becoming increasingly important to grasp the databases that power it. At the heart of it all is data, and in a world increasingly driven by technology, learning about databases is no longer just for IT professionals—it’s a crucial skill for everyone.

One of the best places to start is with something as familiar as Excel. While it might seem like just a spreadsheet program, Excel is, in many ways, a simple database tool. When you organize data into rows and columns, create pivot tables, or use functions to analyze information, you’re essentially building and querying a basic database. Mastering Excel is like learning the ABCs of data management, giving you the foundation to understand how data is structured, stored, and retrieved.

From there, you can begin to see the connections to more complex databases that underpin the internet. Understanding how Excel manages data can help you grasp the basic principles behind the databases that power your favorite apps. You start to appreciate how data is stored in tables, how queries retrieve specific information, and how different pieces of data relate to one another.

As you deepen your understanding, you might explore more advanced tools and concepts—like SQL (Structured Query Language). While SQL might sound complex, it’s actually quite straightforward. It’s the standard language for interacting with relational databases, and learning it is easier than you might think. With SQL, you can create, read, update, and delete data in a database—functions that are fundamental to countless applications, from e-commerce sites to social media platforms. Many people, even without formal training, have built functional SQL databases that power websites and apps in a matter of days. With the advent of tools like ChatGPT, the learning curve has become even smoother, making it accessible to a wider audience.

But the evolution of databases doesn’t stop at SQL. As technology advances, so do the databases that power it. Today, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are pushing the boundaries of what databases can do. Traditional databases are being augmented or even replaced by more specialized systems designed to handle the massive amounts of unstructured data that AI models require. This includes databases optimized for high-speed data retrieval and real-time analytics, crucial for applications like recommendation systems, natural language processing, and predictive analytics.

One of the most exciting developments in this space is the rise of vector databases. Unlike traditional databases that store data in rows and columns, vector databases store data in multi-dimensional vectors, which are numerical representations of complex data like images, text, or even sound. These databases are specifically designed for AI and machine learning applications, where they enable fast, efficient searches and comparisons of high-dimensional data. For instance, when you use an AI-powered search engine or image recognition tool, it’s likely leveraging a vector database to process your query and deliver results almost instantaneously.

As we navigate this increasingly complex and database-dependent world, it’s clear that these systems are more than just tools—they’re the backbone of modern technology. The evolution from simple spreadsheets like Excel to advanced systems like vector databases highlights how far we’ve come and underscores the importance of understanding these technologies. By starting with the basics and gradually exploring more complex systems, we not only gain insight into how the digital world operates but also position ourselves to take advantage of the incredible potential that lies ahead.

In an era where AI and data are reshaping every aspect of life, those who understand databases—whether they’re building simple SQL queries or working with cutting-edge AI databases—will be at the forefront of innovation. They will be better equipped to thrive in a digital world and to shape its future, ensuring that as we move forward, we do so with a clear understanding of the powerful tools at our disposal and the impact they have on our lives.

The author Mark Laurence is a Solution Manager at TD Synnex and is happy to assist with hardware solutions to run both classical and modern AI database workloads.