Certain example embodiments involve accessing data in a database. At least one key is associated with the data. The data is indexed based on the at least one key. The index provides key-value pairs in which keys in the key-value pairs correspond to the at least one key associated with the data and values in the key-value pairs correspond to deserializable serialized blobs generated to include the data in variant data type format. The variant data type format includes different possible equivalent representations of the data such that the data stored in the blobs is of potentially different structures. Responsive to a request received from a computing device, a database transaction is performed on the data in connection with the index and based on the received request. These techniques can be used in connection with tasks as well as data “per se.” O(1) performance is achievable in some instances.