About the General Medical Council
The General Medical Council (GMC) is the independent regulator of doctors in the United Kingdom, responsible for protecting patient safety and upholding standards in medical practice. Established in 1858, the GMC maintains the official register of medical practitioners, ensures the quality of medical education and training, and investigates complaints about doctors’ conduct and performance. Its regulatory duties span the full medical career lifecycle—from medical school accreditation to post-graduate training oversight and fitness to practise tribunals—making it a cornerstone of the UK’s healthcare system.
With over 1,700 employees supporting more than 300,000 registered doctors, the GMC depends on timely, accurate, and secure data to fulfill its mission. Its work involves sensitive and complex data, including personal identifiers, legal casework, and educational records. As the organization modernizes its infrastructure, the move toward real-time, cloud-based analytics is essential for faster reporting, enhanced transparency, and future-ready capabilities like AI-driven insights. This transformation enables GMC to deliver more responsive regulation and support high-quality care across the UK.
Legacy Infrastructure Slows Progress Toward Cloud Analytics
GMC’s strategic goal was to migrate to a modern, cloud-based analytics stack built around Azure and Power BI. But there was one major obstacle: their primary data source, Siebel CRM, wasn’t ready to move to the cloud.
The organization faced several limitations:
- Delayed access to up-to-date data, with ETLs running only once per day
- High costs tied to legacy tools like Tableau and Oracle
- Inefficient processes that made rerunning failed ETLs slow and resource-intensive
- A growing need to enable self-service analytics across business teams using Power BI
Following a thorough review of how the right data was critical in the right architecture, it was shared:
Why GMC Chose Striim for Real-Time Data Streaming
To solve this challenge, GMC needed a real-time integration layer that could stream on-prem data to Azure reliably. After evaluating several solutions—including Oracle GoldenGate and Qlik—they selected Striim for its:
- Ease of use
- Responsive support team
- Built-in CDC and real-time sync
GMC’s team worked with Striim to deploy a streaming solution that connected their Siebel source data to the cloud—while simultaneously scaling up their Azure environment. The implementation helped the team build out its new architecture while laying the groundwork for broader real-time data access.
Early Wins: Cutting Costs, Saving Time, and Improving Agility
Even before completing their full migration, GMC saw significant operational benefits:
✅ Cost Savings
By retiring Tableau (an estimated £90,000/year) and planning the decommissioning of Oracle analytics and Informatica, GMC reduced analytics costs while positioning the organization for scalable growth.
✅ Faster Back-End Operations
Previously, if an ETL failed, re-running it meant uploading over 150 GB of data—a process that could take hours and disrupt business operations. With Striim’s live streaming in place, data is always current, and ETLs can be triggered on demand.
✅ Minimal Disruption
Because Striim runs in parallel with existing ETLs, GMC was able to phase in their new system gradually, minimizing risk during the transition.
✅ Strategic Flexibility
Striim enabled decoupling from legacy infrastructure, empowering GMC to scale up Power BI adoption and build out its modern cloud analytics stack with confidence.
Powering a Cloud-First, Real-Time Future for GMC
By connecting on-prem systems with Azure in real time, GMC is not only solving today’s data integration challenges but also laying the groundwork for tomorrow’s AI, analytics, and compliance initiatives.
Looking ahead, GMC’s analytics roadmap includes:
- Enabling near-real-time dashboards across key departments
- Expanding Power BI adoption through Azure-based centralized reporting
Explore What’s Possible with Real-Time Data Streaming
GMC’s transformation highlights the power of real-time data integration in modernizing legacy systems and enabling a cloud-first future. Striim delivered the scalability, compliance, and speed needed to help GMC accelerate its journey while keeping costs in check and teams empowered.
Want to see what Striim can do for your organization?
