What Is Data Integration? Answering Common Questions

By Boomi

Data is the most valuable resource within every business. But it’s hardly a scarce resource. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. As a business grows, the amount of data it needs to collect, process, and store will grow as well. Organizations continue to add systems and applications at a breakneck pace, which also increases the number of data sources. The sheer volume of data can become difficult to manage, causing inefficiencies and even costly setbacks that impact the business. And without ready access to clean, accurate data, businesses are unable to obtain the insights they need to drive the business forward.

But data management has become much easier and streamlined with smart data integration. Today, businesses have a variety of tools and processes at their disposal to make data discovery, cataloging, and analyzing data easier than ever. That’s important because making the best use of data gives businesses a competitive advantage.

So, what is data integration? And how can it apply in a variety of use cases for businesses large and small?

Data Integration Defined

Data integration is the process of combining multiple sources of data into a single view. It further encompasses every step of the data management process – from collection to cleansing to analysis to transformation to storage.

Why Is Data Integration Important?

Data integration ultimately makes it easier for businesses to receive and analyze data and then translate it into valuable business intelligence.

In most cases, businesses receive data from a variety of data sources. A single, 360-degree view makes it easier for businesses to gather insights and apply them to business processes and decisions.

For example, a business may need to combine CRM systems, website analytics, and marketing analytics to inform future marketing campaigns. Having all of this data in one place makes it easier for marketing teams to pull the data they need, measure results, and make data-supported decisions.

How Does Data Integration Work?

Data integration combines different sources of data into a single location, such as a data warehouse. In a typical data integration process, the steps generally go like this:

1. A master server takes the needed data from various sources and platforms.
2. The data is consolidated into a single data set.
3. All data is stored in a unified data warehouse.
4. The business/user can then extract data for their own use.
5. Data can be analyzed and transformed in bulk to provide valuable business insights.
6. Data can be added to, or removed from, the data set as needed.

Ultimately, the goal of data integration is to generate usable information that helps businesses solve problems, gain new insights, and inform their decision-making.

Benefits of Data Integration

Without a data integration strategy, the data management process typically involves logging into multiple platforms across multiple sites and manually analyzing and cleansing data one set at a time.

This manual process can be tedious and creates room for human error. Fortunately, data integration opens the door to a range of benefits for businesses of all sizes:

• Reduces errors. Data integration limits errors by providing a complete data set and analyzing data through automation.
• Establishes unified systems. Data integration offers a single, 360-degree view of all your data for easy accessibility and analysis.
• Provides security. Rather than having to log into multiple accounts across several platforms, you can access all of your data within a single, secure data warehouse.
• Offers self-service. Gone are the days of having to ping your team member with your password to give them access to the data they need. With data integration, anyone with permissions can access the data any time they want.
• Increases collaboration. Data integration makes it easier to share data across teams. This improves collaboration across organizations.
• Improves efficiency. Data integration cuts down on the time it takes to collect, store, prepare, and analyze data. Automation within your data integration ultimately boosts productivity.
• Provides more valuable data. All data sets are integrated into a centralized system, following an established process that standardizes the information. This results in more accurate data and more valuable business intelligence.

Examples of Data Integration in Business

Boomi, a leader in intelligent connectivity and automation, offers a unified integration platform as a service (iPaaS) that enables organizations to get the most from their data. The Boomi AtomSphere Platform helps businesses connect data sources, synchronize data through a master data hub, use the data by creating workflows, and much more. Boomi helps businesses of all sizes – from SMBs to global enterprises – make data the center of their organizations.

Here are a few examples of data integration in action:

• Boomi Orchestrates the World’s Largest Salesforce Integration
• Integration Creates the Foundation for Groundbreaking IoT Healthcare Platform
• Integration Drives ENGIE’s Digital Transformation

Data Integration and Boomi

Now the question is, how do you make data integration work for your business?

With Boomi, integrating data is easier than ever.

Our market-standard iPaaS enables you to instantly discover and connect trusted data from an infinite number of sources, helping turn high volumes of data into actionable insights that accelerates and improves business outcomes. As the pioneer of cloud-based integration and positioned as a Leader in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Enterprise Integration Platform as a Service for eight consecutive years, Boomi is the authority in data integration.

See the benefits of data integration in your business. Try the Boomi AtomSphere Platform for free today.