An effective data integration ensures fast and accurate data operations without significant spending. Today, businesses get access to a huge variety of data integration methods, yet building a proper integration strategy is not an easy task. This article will help you develop an advanced understanding of how and why data should be integrated and guide you in choosing the most relevant solutions for your business goals.
Typical Scenarios for Data Integration
Copying someone else’s approach is no longer an effective strategy. Even within the same industry, businesses differ significantly in structure, principles, and goals. However, understanding common methods of data integration can help you find the solution that works best for your specific case. They are:
- Moving datasets into a unified data platform;
- Synchronizing data across different platforms;
- Collecting information from business partners;
- Building a performance dashboard for sales or marketing;
- Consolidating data into a unified customer profile.
Moving Datasets Into a Unified Data Platform
Data is the key to any business’s success. Yet, it has zero value if it’s not stored and operated correctly. There are two common ways of storing data. An earlier one – ETL considers filtering, cleaning, and sorting the data before storage. The main advantage of the method is its reliability and compatibility with most monitoring programs. Yet, it’s also more time and money-consuming compared to modern methods.
The implementation of cloud solutions has become a revolutionary turn for data operations. It allows storing different sizes and formats of data without prior preparation. Cloud-friendly tools allow quick data extraction and analysis at any time it’s needed. While this method is still gaining popularity, it helps to save time and money, limiting unnecessary data operations.
Synchronizing Data Across Different Platforms
Using several channels for monitoring and data gathering is a wise investment in making information more accurate and practical. Yet, to avoid errors and data conflicts, such information shall be harmonized and synchronized across all platforms. Bigger companies also need different data systems that are not always able to work in a synchronized manner without an assisting tool.
To avoid critical misalignment, companies try to merge databases, creating a unified data storage for several areas or departments. Yet, more and more businesses rely on effective tools that provide data-synchronization opportunities and master data management solutions – applications, programs, or complete platforms. Additional information about data synchronization here https://skyvia.com/learn/what-is-data-synchronization.
Collecting Information from Business Partners
Today’s businesses need to co-work with multiple partners: producers, sponsors, suppliers, etc. At this point, informational exchange means a lot, as it helps to secure uninterrupted workflow and optimize shared resources. Yet, using and updating data received by different systems can be tricky.
Previously, partners had to exchange data reports, re-inputting the updates into their databases. Yet such a practice increased the risk of human errors. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) has become the first solution replacing paper-based documents and automating the data exchange process.
While EDI stays commonly used among companies, the increasing number of businesses prefer working with newer and more optimized solutions, like XML files and APIs.
Building a Performance Dashboard for Sales or Marketing
The development of e-commerce, turned marketing into a better-monitored and more predictable process. Today’s tracking tools allow getting more information about customers’ behavior and reactions online, and correspond to that with an upgraded sales strategy.
New databases provide way more opportunities than just storing and analyzing the information. With the implementation of tools and apps, data is reflected into comfortable and understandable schemes. Such dashboards can be used by any team member, not only IT specialists.
Consolidating Data into a Unified Customer Profile
While companies struggle to make their businesses more personalized, creating an individual profile for each customer is a smart move. Sales managers can see data on a client’s previous orders or interactions, developing a better understanding of a person’s needs and preferences. A personalized marketing process helps to increase sales rates significantly. This often means gathering customer data from various systems, including the CRM, ERP, marketing platforms, and others.
Conclusion
Data integration becomes an irreversible part of today’s operational reality for most businesses. The growing number of tools for data storage and processing emphasizes the importance of information, turning it into an effective and powerful tool for decision-making and business expansion. Yet, the main task of each company is to understand the core differences between these tools to make them maximally beneficial for their cases.
To read more content like this, explore The Brand Hopper
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