Data integration: any modern company's solution

In today's business world it is essential to have control of the data an organization works with. Data is increasingly positioning itself as a fundamental tool for business growth because it translates into extremely valuable information for optimizing business strategies. In this sense, data integration is a basic requirement.

Data integration will allow you to make the right decisions

If you are a manager or part of a company's business intelligence team, you will know that data recollection is often a fundamental facet of any business. Data is essential when it comes to analysing the productivity and the operations of your company, as well as the needs and behaviour of your customers, so that you can later make the right decisions. The problem of most companies is that, despite having access to a large amount of data, it is not treated optimally. The solution? Data integration.

What is data integration?

As its name indicates, data integration is a strategic solution that consists on unifying all the data from the different departments of a company in a single place, usually a data warehouse.

Data integration is not a simple process and, in addition to the unification of data, it also includes its transformation and treatment. That is, once the data has been collected, cleaned — excluding null values or unnecessary information, for example — filtered — checking that all data is reliable, valid and of interest — and converted into the same format so that it can be treated as a whole. In other words, it is sorted, added and combined so that new, more useful and now completely reliable information becomes available. Finally, the new data is uploaded to a single storage space where it is inventoried and updated over time.  

A fundamental procedure for any company that does not want to be left behind

What is the point of having a large amount of information if it cannot be analysed as a whole?

Let's say, for example, that your company wants to launch a new product or service. For the final product to be excellent, it will be indispensable to analyse the current information about existing products or services, about your competitors, the buyer personas, etc. Normally, companies have this information stored in different places and each department is responsible for examining the information that is relevant, although this information must be analysed together, comparing and contrasting all the variables.

With data integration, all this information is in the same place and all departments have access to it. In addition, it has already been filtered, processed, and merged, so drawing new conclusions is much faster, more efficient and more reliable. This process not only makes the work much easier, but it also means a great growth in productivity and enhances the performance and decision making of business intelligence.

The integration of data, therefore, is the best way to get useful and efficient information to subsequently make the appropriate operations and achieve optimal results.

There are many ways to carry out data integration. In Bismart, as one of the few Microsoft gold partners in data analytics and Power BI in Spain, we adapt the process to the specific needs of each company and work with ETL (Extract, Transform and Load) and SSIS (SQL Server Integration Services). If you want to know what differences there are between ETL and SSIS you can read our previous post.

Benefits of data integration

1. Time saving: Data recollection usually accounts for 60% to 80% of a company's business intelligence time. The automation of the process means a huge decrease in this time by eliminating unnecessary tasks. Through data integration, the information is ready to be used.
   
2. Saving money: The elimination of unnecessary tasks, as well as the release of human and physical resources translates into significant savings of money and a very high return on investment.
   
3. More reliable and efficient information: The process is a guarantee that the information obtained is totally reliable and useful since the data has been processed and filtered.
   
4. Obtaining a historical record of information: A single data storage allows to have a historical inventory of all the information of the company.
   
5. New business strategies: Data integration can become the engine to improve your company's business initiatives since obtaining new information translates into a better knowledge of all the parts and processes that make up the company, as well as the customer. Likewise, through data integration you will be able to enrich your strategic operations and reduce risks.

These are just some of the improvements that data integration would bring to your company, but integration has many other benefits.

You save time and money, you have access to all your data from one place and forever, you access new information about all components of your company, you solve problems and improve your business strategies. What is your excuse for not trying it?

Contact us for more information and specific solutions for your company.

Investing in data integration is investing in the future of your company!