Data modernization has undergone significant changes throughout history, evolving in response to changing economic, business, and societal needs. Traditionally, data modernization encompassed topics such as integrating new technologies and practices, optimizing data architecture, and enhancing database functionality. However, with the rise of cloud computing, organizations began adopting cloud-native architectures, leveraging containerization and microservices to build scalable and resilient systems. Today, data modernization is focused on navigating regulatory compliance, boosting business agility, and providing a future-ready platform, with distributed SQL databases like CockroachDB playing a crucial role in enabling organizations to innovate and scale faster while reducing overall risk.