{"id":2933,"date":"2023-03-29T09:23:32","date_gmt":"2023-03-28T23:23:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cloude.au\/?p=2933"},"modified":"2023-05-15T10:30:03","modified_gmt":"2023-05-15T00:30:03","slug":"importance-of-data-integration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cloude.au\/importance-of-data-integration\/","title":{"rendered":"The Importance of Data Integration for Business Intelligence and Analytics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
I have been working as a database and business intelligence engineer for many years and I am fascinated by how the world is evolving in this space. Over years I understood the importance of data integration<\/strong><\/a> for business intelligence and analytics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In particular, I am interested in the topic of data integration and how it’s increasingly becoming an essential aspect of Business Intelligence (BI) and analytics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this article, we’ll explore the exciting world of data integration, learn about its role in BI and analytics, and discover how it’s transforming the way businesses operate in this fast-paced, digital age. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Join me as we delve into the complexities of data integration and its impact on modern business operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Data integration plays a pivotal role in facilitating effective BI and analytics by providing businesses with a unified and coherent view of their data landscape. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With the ever-growing volume and diversity of data sources, it’s essential to merge and transform this data into a structured, usable format. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Data integration bridges the gap between disparate transactional systems, ensuring that data from various sources is combined, cleansed, and aligned to create a single version of the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Making business decisions based on real data is the key to success for every modern business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By integrating data effectively, businesses can gain a holistic understanding of their operations, customer behaviour, and market trends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This comprehensive view empowers decision-makers to identify patterns, trends, and correlations that would otherwise remain hidden in siloed data sources. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As a result, data integration fuels data-driven decision-making, allowing organizations to optimize their strategies, reduce costs, and drive innovation, ultimately leading to a more successful and competitive business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You may ask why don’t I report directly from my CRM system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Indeed, you can do it but what if you want to join some other customer data that is located in a different system? This could be Office 365, a call centre system, a marketing platform, social media platform or IoT devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Probably you would ask your data analyst to put all sources in one Excel or PowerBi dataset. But that’s not a good idea. Sooner than later you would be frustrated by the complexity of your report as the number of tables, links and measures would be overwhelming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This complexity grows even further when more systems need to be integrated. Reports become more and more complicated and difficult to manage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By consolidating and integrating data from these disparate sources, you can create a comprehensive, 360-degree view of their operations, customers, and market environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Usually, this happens by creating a star schema<\/a><\/strong> or snowflake schema<\/a><\/strong> in your data warehouse. The model has one fact table (transactions) and joining dimensions which are categorical tables, e.g. Customer, Order Type or Project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read more about the differences between a star schema and a snowflake schema<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Importance of Data Integration for BI and Analytics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Why Data Consolidation is Important?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n