Table of Contents
What is Data Integration?
Data integration combines heterogeneous data from many different sources into the form and structure of a single application. It makes it easy for different types of information, such as data matrices, documents, and tables, to merge by users, organizations, and applications for personal, business process, or function use.
Data integration is typically implemented in a data warehouse using specialized software that hosts large data stores from internal and external resources. The data is extracted, mixed and presented in a unified way. For example, a user’s entire data set may include extracted and combined information from marketing, sales, and operations, which are connected to form a comprehensive report.
A Data Integration Project Typically Involves the Following Steps :
- Access data from all sources and locations, whether local, in the cloud, or both.
- Data integration such that records from one data source map records in another. For example, even if one dataset used “first names, last name” and another “name, ape”, the integrated set will ensure that the data goes to the right place in both cases. It is a type of data training essential for analytics and other applications to use the data successfully.
- Delivering integrated data to the business just when needed, whether batch, near real-time or real-time.
Why do you Need Data Integration in your Business?
The business world is becoming new and more consumer-driven. It was essential to focus on customer service and listen to customer feedback in the past. Still, today’s businesses need to understand better what customers want and collect data ranging from usage patterns to proceeds to contributions in social networks.
Using data to have more explicit expectations of customer needs is essential and it is crucial. However, many companies lack the gears to do so. A study by Experian found that in marketing departments, only 30% of companies believe they have good data integration.
Here are 5 Reasons a Business Should Embrace Data Integration:
Reduces the Burden on Business Analysts
Business intelligence professionals look at an overwhelming workload trying to sift through the vast amounts of data entering the business every day. By eliminating data silos, users can access different sets of information based on their specific needs. By giving teams direct access to relevant information, analysts have one less thing to worry about and can focus on more complex data sets that drive business value.
Eliminate Duplicates
On several occasions, some organizations perform a customer analysis to determine their needs and quickly find that a similar project was carry out in another department a few months ago. You can avoid this redundancy with data integration, not just for large projects. The most common problems companies face are collecting customer data in multiple places, documenting processes in different systems, etc.
Maximize the Value of Data
An effective scan for maybe 20 employees will be worthless if only five of their income the report. Cross-channel data unification allows organizations to share different data types to maximize their potential and ensure the visibility of user groups. This transparency can extend to internal and external stakeholders and foster collaboration within the organization.
Improve Decision Making
By giving users access to crucial data embedded in the applications and services, they can care for fine collections when interacting with customers and partners. Integrating data with relevant systems makes insights actionable and gives users the senses to work smartly.
Benefit from Different Types of Data
While leveraging different data types is tied to maximizing the value of data, it’s essential to recognize that different kinds of information present unique challenges. Info from spreadsheets, very structure databases, social media reports, charts, white papers, and other sources must be combined to obtain operational insights, especially since new technologies such as the Internet of Things bring even more data into business ecosystems.
Benefits of Cloud Data Integration
As cloud technology advances, transferring complex data and processes to cloud environments improves. It allows organizations to integrate applications for immediate efficiencies while benefiting from better information management.
They were working with a technology companion who could benefit and understand the complexities of distributing application capabilities across multiple solutions. In the cloud and on-premises, the implications from the data management and integration perspective help organizations. Effectively leverage state of the art to use state-of-the-art technologies benefiting from essential solutions.
Cloud Data Integration offers the Following Advantages over older Methods:
- All users can access real-time personal data with an Internet link from any device.
- It remains likely to integrate private data such as calendars and contact lists offered by different applications.
- The same access data can be use for all personal applications.
- The system transfers control messages between applications efficiently.
- Data silos are avoid, information integrity is maintained, and data conflicts that can arise from redundancy are eliminate.
- Cloud data integration provides scalability to allow future expansion in many users and applications.
In recent years, cloud data integration has gained popularity among organizations and government agencies implementing SaaS (Software as a Service). A software transfer model in which applications are hosted and delivered by a service provider available to users.
Basics of Integration
Managers tasked with a data integration project often don’t know where to start and what to do. Therefore, several fundamentals mark the starting point for approaching this process:
Metadata is Everything
The data source indicates how the data integration should begin. The company needs to understand the information stored in the source and target systems and find a reliable and truthful single source.
Understand the Flow of Information
After the source has been identifie, it is necessary to determine how the data will flow from one system to another
While most data integration flows are simple replication, it is also possible to change the structure and content of the data flowing from one system to another so that the target infrastructure receives native data.
Bring Security and Data Governance Together
These are two things that often don’t compliment each other well in data integration environments. This issue becomes increasingly important as we move to the cloud as the data is physically out of our control. Integrators must encrypt the data, and once encrypted. The info is more secure.
As part of data integration, data governance involves using active policies regarding data usage, flows, transformations, etc. It allows us to prevent someone from changing a discharge or the structure of a target system and destroying the integration solution.
Whether a company is new to data integration or the system is mature, integration fundamentals remain key to your development success.
Conclusion
Data integration involves joining data residing in different sources and also, providing users with a unified view. This process has become significant in various areas, including commercial and scientific domains.