Story
Confluent
REIHow REI Runs Partner Exchange on Apache Kafka
REI, a consumer discretionary organization in the United States, uses Apache Kafka from Confluent to support partner data exchange for data platform and lines of business.
Value results
| Category | Value result |
|---|---|
| Productivity | Fewer stalled items because secure data sharing has a clear owner |
| Productivity | Handoffs in partner data exchange sit in a shared queue instead of a mailbox trail |
| Capability | New joiners can see how partner data exchange actually runs |
Story
REI is based in the United States and runs consumer discretionary operations at a scale where secure data sharing cannot live in side channels. Data platform and lines of business were reconciling competing copies of the same work, which slowed partner data exchange and hid who owned the next step.
The company runs partner data exchange on Confluent, with Apache Kafka as the product data platform and lines of business actually open. Confluent is the data streaming platform built around Apache Kafka, used to move events between applications in real time. For REI, that means data platform and lines of business can open one workflow, see secure data sharing, and let neighboring teams join without inventing a parallel stack.
Public materials confirm the companies and products. They do not always publish a single verified KPI for this pairing, so the outcome here is operational: clearer ownership, fewer stalled handoffs, and a shared record for secure data sharing.
