What is a key benefit of using materialized views?

Using materialized views significantly reduces the execution time for complex queries because they store pre-computed results derived from one or more base tables. When a materialized view is created, it captures the results of a query and stores that result set, which can then be accessed directly rather than recalculated with each query. This means that when users or applications need to perform queries against the data, they can retrieve information from the materialized view much faster than if they were querying the underlying tables directly, especially if those queries involve complex computations, aggregations, or joins.

Materialized views are particularly useful in scenarios where data does not change frequently, allowing for efficient storage and quick access to frequently requested outputs without the overhead of recalculating them each time a query is executed. As a result, they are widely used in reporting and decision support systems where performance is critical.

While the other choices may have their own benefits within broader contexts, they do not directly pertain to the core functionality and advantages of materialized views in terms of query performance.