Data replication is crucial for businesses seeking faster ways to utilize data and gain a competitive advantage. It involves copying or updating data from one location to another, often in real-time or near real-time, and can be homogeneous or heterogeneous. The goal of data replication is business continuity - ensuring that data is readily available for multiple users who require it. Key benefits include support for real-time analytics, faster data access, optimized server performance, and disaster recovery. Companies can adopt various data replication techniques such as log-based change data capture, trigger-based change data capture, and snapshot replication, depending on their use case and existing data infrastructure.