Your Ultimate Guide to Data Integration If You Do Not Know Where to Start

Data has become the gold of the 21st century, and modern technology helps to collect, classify, process and analyze it using the skills of thinking, which are far beyond human capabilities. Data-driven business is not a hyped statement — this is a harsh necessity for any company to stay competitive. That is why it is not enough just to collect and store your business data in several places — it is necessary to bring it to the single format and start tracking events and consequences, patterns and anomalies and build a more comprehensive business strategy on its basis. This process begins from the data integration step and in this article, we will dwell on it in more detail.

What Is Data Integration — Definition and Deep Meaning

Enterprise data integration is the process of combining all the data stored and accumulated by your company throughout its existence in one place. What is more, it also means fully organizing your data and its systematization in a single format — for quick access, convenient analytics and flexible forecasting capabilities.

Neil Raiden, one of the data experts, defines the process of data integration as modeling of its meaning. That is, having a large amount of information from disparate sources, and integrating it into a single system, we get a chance to get completely new, unexpected and useful insights. In other words, a certain piece of data may not have practical application alone, however, after being integrated into a system of interconnected information, it may acquire a different meaning and sense.

What Are the Reasons to Implement and Benefits of Data Integration?

Let’s suppose your data is already integrated. What can you do with the final result?

• Make more informed decisions
• Improve customer service
• Get seamless operations
• Increase employees productivity
• Predict the future
• Get the reports instantly

By the way, there is a chart that shows how modern companies use the benefits of data integration and what goals do they pursue.

The Step-By-Step Data Integration Process

So, how will this happen in practice?

• Data preparation
• Transferring data in an integration system
• Data mapping
• Exporting the data into destinations with a different type of formats

What Are Data Integration Techniques?

There are several approaches to data integration, each of which meets specific business goals.

• Data consolidation
• Data federation
• Data propagation
• Hybrid approach

As the name implies, in this case, it becomes possible to use several approaches to data integration at once.

What Are Data Integration Tools?

Data integration tool is special software that will help you to go through the process we have described above, and them, work with your integrated data according to the basic approaches. Here are some data integration services examples you may choose from.

• Oracle GoldenGate,
• IBM InfoSphere DataStage,
• InfoSphere,
• SAS Enterprise Data Integration Server,
• SSIS,
• Informatica PowerCenter.

Data Integration or Migration?

The main difference between migration and data integration is that migration is simply transferring data from several external sources, while integration is a complete ordering of all your data and bringing them to a single format for generating insights.

The essence The necessity The purpose Data integration Collection of data Consolidating data in one place Gain new data-based insights Data migration Transfer of data Moving from one system to another Get better user experience when working with data in a new environment

Conclusion — Taking the Final Decision and Choosing the Right Data Integration Vendor for Your Business

So, here is the infographic that clearly shows the main benefits and goals of data integration that may be relevant for your business.

However, making the decision to integrate your data, you immediately face the next logical question of how to choose a reliable vendor that will help you.

Choosing the company, you should make sure that they are fully aware of the value of data for business, and take full responsibility for its preservation and security. The team should work in compliance with the most stringent rules for handling sensitive and strategic information. For instance, the employees of data integration company SPD Group have the relevant experience, expertise, and the most updated knowledge, which allows them to solve the most diverse business tasks in working with data and using artificial intelligence.

Originally published at Trending Us.