Common Data Integration Mistakes

Businesses receive data from numerous sources and the number of these avenues is going to increase because of the inclusion of different channels in concluding business operations. Data integration brings all the available information to a single place and hence empowers the stakeholders to take insightful and data driven decisions whenever required. Availability of enormous amounts of data make its integration a technically challenging project. According to a report by Mckinsey more than 25% of the IT budget of every company is dedicated towards the data integration techniques and principles. However, most of these projects deliver 56% less value than expected.  

An ideal solution to this situation could be automation of the integration processes with the help of software. Switching the workload of data integration from an IT professional to an automated software reduces the possibility of errors and makes the entire process easier. Let’s have a look at the potential data integration mistakes that any company might make during the procedure -  

• Mistake – Selecting a data integration solution which doesn’t suit your business processes  

The data integration solutions often are visualised from a high level however their underlying working principles might be different. The technicalities of such software might be difficult for any salesperson or a business development manager to understand.  

Solution – Before selecting a data integration software, gather an understanding of your business processes. Ask teams working in different departments to give you the gist of their activities and where they will require data integration capabilities. Also, check if the data integration solution supports your business goals and vision.  

• Mistake – Building an inhouse data integration solution 

The data integration solution built by your technical experts might sound like a fancy idea but the cost of tailoring it will certainly break your bank.  

Solution – Calculate the cost of ownership, maintenance and resources before initiating development of a data integration project. Finding a third-party service provider who is aware about your business practices and processes is an affordable bet in this scenario.  

• Mistake – Overlooking the long-term benefits of the solution 

Businesses often start expecting benefits as soon as they deploy a data integration solution. The feasibility of these solutions is often overlooked.  

Solution – Your data integration capabilities are bound to change time to time. Find a solution provider whose application suits the future.  

• Mistake – Considering that IT personnel are the sole users of data integration application  

Almost more than 40% of businesses find that a data integration solution is hard to use. This is because these solutions are designed to suit the IT professionals’ needs and not the businesspersons.  

Solution – Business professionals will be using the data integration application. Therefore, pick a solution which can be understood and utilised by business managers without any major training required.  

 The Conclusion  

A data integration tool has an enormous impact on your business processes. The correct application frees up your IT resources, streamlines your data management processes and gives your sales and marketing departments more accessibility of the required data. However, the wrong selection of a data integration solution puts all of this at stake, therefore you need to be extremely careful before choosing one.