Everybody knows that a database management system, or DBMS, is the system software used to store, manage, and access enterprise data. But what is a data analytics platform? Well, it can be a lot of things, so make sure that you examine any “platform” your organization is considering very carefully. A data platform might comprise a DBMS, and it might not. It might be a tool to help you collect and analyze large data sets from various sources. It might be a series of analytics tools and interfaces for accessing data. Or it might be any one, or set of, offerings that manage, virtualize, index, secure, or otherwise work with your data.