Data Integration: Moving Beyond ETL

Data Integration: Moving Beyond ETL A DataFlux White Paper With la arge amounts of business data generate every day, it’s not surpr s ed , rising that organiizations can become overw b whelmed by t he task of ma anaging it. Whhether they’ve e created their own disparate data stores over t years or in d a the nherited infor rmation throug mergers or acquisitions, businesses f gh r , frequently struggle to find reliable, consist tent ways to move and ma m anipulate data As a result, their data be a. ecomes too disorganized and unwieldy to be of any busin e ness use. That’s why, in an en nterprise mark ketplace that’ as technolo ’s ogy-driven as it is today, effective data integ gration tools are not just a c a convenience – they’re a ne ecessity. Yet too ma organizat any tions gravitate toward data integration p e a processes tha aren’t right at t for the Whether it’s because they’re hesitan to let go o f their old me em. i nt ethods, or they’re simply unaw e ware of the altternatives, ma businesse settle for generic, one- any es size-fit ts-all solutions They spend too much tim and mone on data int s. d me ey tegration efforts that don’t de s eliver the bes outcome fo their goals. st or Fortunnately, there are better opt a tions available Solutions th are not on flexible e. hat nly and coost-effective, but can mana data acro the enterp b age oss prise. Most im mportant, the right solution can perform the pr p recise tasks a n organizatio requires to increase on busine grow reve ess, enue and mitigate risk. What’s the first step to finding a better data i ntegration sy s p ystem? Organ nizations should start by anal d lyzing their ne eeds and aski themselve the following questions: ing es  Why do we need to integrate our dat e ta?  What do we need our da to do? e ata Once a purpose and goal have been defined , it’s easier to find the righ data b o ht integraation tool. Perhaps an orga anization nee to achieve a virtual view of its data eds e w for opeerational repoorting purpos Or make real-time que ses. eries to impro customer- ove service efforts. Data federation, in-database i ntegration or real-time integration e a r might work best in those circums t stances – inst tead of staid a approaches li extract, ike transfo and load (ETL) alone. Therefore, it’s important to realize that traditional orm T s o metho of data int ods tegration may no longer b the optimal choice for every business y be s. Finding the right method will do more than ju get the job done – it ca take an o ust b an organi ization to the next level of business succcess. Ever Busine Size, in Every I ry ess Industry, Needs a an Effective Dat Integra ta ation Solu ution Integraating and leve eraging data can be challe enging for businesses that need to respon to rapidly evolving mark nd e kets and channging custom demands. But it’s not mer just an issue limited to large organizations. A solid data str n d rategy is impo ortant for every business size, in every indu b , ustry – regard dless of the myriad ways ea business ach uses it data. ts Major organizations for example may have s s, e, several data st tores and ma assive amount ts of lega data – or they’ve comp acy pleted a merg or acquisit ger tion and now need to w 1 proces inherited in ss nformation for their own bu usiness purpo oses. Smaller organizations s may no have as mu informatio to manage but must us their existing ot uch on e, se inform mation to achie transpare eve ency and boos efficiency. Simply put, almost every st busine organization faces some type of dat a challenge – and none ar immune to ess re the necessity of dat integration. ta Figure 1: To Data Inte op egration Chal llenges S Source: “Data Integ gration: Using ETL, E and EII Tools to Create an EAI o In ntegrated Enterprise, by Colin White, , T TDWI Report Series November 2005. s, Figure 1 illustrate the change taking place in the deploy es es e yment of data integration a initiativ ves, driving an ever-increasi n ing need for b better solution ns. Find ding the Right Approac e A ch Data in ntegration can no longer be an aftertho b ought – it’s a k compone of data key ent governnance. But the ere’s no clear answer when it comes to choosing the right r n e approaach.