The importance of a data integration solution
The Importance of a Data Integration Solution
The demand for data integration today is greater than ever before, and the pool of data integration specialists has grown commensurately. But, before businesses dive headfirst into a data integration solution, it’s key to understand the basics.
Thanks to the pandemic and resulting proliferation of digital transformation trends, data integration has become an essential area of focus in the analytics and business intelligence conversation. According to a recent survey from Forbes, over 80% of enterprise business operations leaders describe data integration as “critical to ongoing operations.”
To understand and harness the power of data integration, we will answer the most important questions organizations should ask themselves before embarking upon a data integration journey and explain why data integration should be at the front of mind for every technical leader today.
What’s the Business Case for Data Integration?
All businesses, regardless of their size, maturity, or sector, collect and rely on vast amounts of data. Most of this data is stored in the various operating systems that keep the day-to-day business running – think accounting systems, CRMs, ERPs, MASs, and/or warehouse management applications.
The 1960s saw the emergence of a number of these sorts of operating systems and business applications, and each came with its own back-end database to house all the information inputted by staff. While these applications were innovative, their data management systems were not purpose-built to work together, and without an efficient way to consolidate the information from multiple systems, it was impossible for businesses to share and combine operating information across departments.
Think of every business datapoint like a pixel in an image. These pixels provide very little information on their own, and when they are displayed incorrectly, the overall picture will be distorted. Similarly, as long as data sources are siloed, existing data is inconsequential and can even be a hindrance to the business. However, when these datapoints are integrated and unified together in the right way, they can collectively paint an entirely new picture of the company.
Hence, the concept of “data integration” was born from this need, starting with early tools and processes like Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) software, which takes data from one source, translates that data into a form that another application can understand, and loads it into that application to be combined.
Over 40 years, as enterprise management and business intelligence systems, like SAP, Oracle and Microsoft, gained ground, enterprises increasingly produced more data and started to want more from that data. In the 21st century, cloud computing and big data rapidly transformed the data management landscape, offering businesses more speed, storage capacity, and scalability.
While the technologies have certainly evolved and the approaches to data integration are varied, the core motivation has remained the same: to provide enterprises with a single source of informational truth across the entire business.
What Value Does Data Integration Deliver?
At this point, you might be wondering where a data integrator, like Fastloop, comes in. Our expertise lies in transforming raw data in to deep business insights, giving companies a centralized, holistic view of their business. But data integration isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. The right formula can vary based on numerous business needs and technical realities. Typically, most data integration projects involve four core steps:
- Data Collection: extract data from legacy systems, day-to-day applications, the cloud, software vendors, and other on- and off-premises locations.
- Data Integration: consolidate the data into a single, cohesive information set. At this stage, the data can also go through several additional steps, such as cleansing and transformation.
- Data Delivery: display information in simple, easy to understand formats to enable organizations get a complete picture of the business – from board and executive levels to frontline staff, and everywhere in between.
- Data Acceleration: layer in the advanced capability of machine learning and artificial Intelligence models to better predict the future, enable automation, and derive forward looking intelligence for the business and market overall.
Why Invest in a Data Integration Solution?
If the COVID-19 pandemic taught us anything, it’s that if businesses want to stay competitive tomorrow, data transformation and integration are initiatives they need to focus on today.
By giving staff and operators a comprehensive picture of a company’s operations, market opportunities and business risks, data integration can have a dramatic bottom-line impact. According to an Aberdeen research study, companies using data integration reported a 9% increase in operating profit year-over-year, an 8.1% increase in their customer base, and by several metrics, vastly outperformed competitors that were lagging in data integration.
The most important component of data integration is making it a key part of a greater vision as a company. That’s why Fastloop takes a holistic approach to data utilization, combining business purpose with technical innovation. By partnering with a data integrator like Fastloop, your business can take this critical step towards a digital, data-driven future. Reach out to us to get started today.
By Breedon Grauer, President/CEO
Breedon is a board member and leads all operational aspects of Fastloop, including strategy, growth and execution. Prior to Fastloop, Breedon was a member of the senior leadership team of The Jim Pattison Group of companies ($15B+ in sales, 50K+ employees, 300+ companies, 100+ countries) where he led a number of growth initiatives including global marketing, inter-company sales, procurement and technology. Additionally, Breedon launched, managed and scaled a new division, called Pattison GO, that consolidated and monetized assets across the organization globally. Prior to this, Breedon helped launch a sport marketing startup, was part of the Olympic team that delivered the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, and managed a number of PGA TOUR events across the United States.
