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Snowflake Zero Copy Sharing Example

Traditional Scenario without Snowflake Zero Copy Sharing

Before we talk about Snowflake zero copy, imagine you’re a manufacturer that relies on multiple suppliers for parts. Each supplier also has to coordinate with shipping companies to get those parts to you. Normally, you’d have a dataset of inventory levels, order statuses, and forecasts that you’d want to share with both your suppliers and shipping companies.

In a traditional setup, you would have to:

  1. Export Data: Create separate copies of your dataset for each supplier and shipper.
  2. Transfer: Use some secure method to transfer these large datasets.
  3. Sync: Continuously update these separate copies to ensure everyone has the most current information.

This approach is time-consuming, costly, and prone to errors or data inconsistencies.

Scenario With Snowflake’s Zero-Copy Cloning

Instead of sending out multiple copies of your dataset, you can create a “clone” within Snowflake and provide secure access to this clone for your suppliers and shippers.

  1. Instant Cloning: You create a clone of your dataset in Snowflake instantly.
  2. Access Management: You set permissions so that each supplier and shipper can only see the data relevant to them.
  3. Real-time Updates: Any updates to the master data can be instantly reflected in the clone without additional effort.

So, in this context, Zero-Copy Cloning allows for:

  1. Efficiency: No need to create and manage multiple physical copies of your dataset.
  2. Security: You maintain control over your data; third parties access only what they need.
  3. Cost-Savings: You save on storage and data transfer costs.
  4. Speed: Data sharing is almost instantaneous, regardless of the dataset’s size.

For a business person, this translates to faster, more secure, and more cost-effective operations across complex ecosystems like supply chains.

Other Options for Snowflake Sharing

Our Snowflake Sharing Guide For more information about data sharing in Salesforce you can read Snowflake

If you need to share data with third parties but need to replicate data across clouds or availability zones, we have written a step by step tutorials for Snowflake data sharing and Snowflake Data Sharing Guide