Data has become important in the business environment today. Companies gather data from different places. The biggest source of data in most organizations is daily transactions. Due to the challenges of storage, companies may choose to store data gathered from different sources in multiple databases.
The information is important when a business is seeking to discover the past, present, and future trends in its business field. A solution is needed to avail all data gathered in a place where it can all be viewed. Different ways will help businesses achieve this goal.
Data consolidation
Data in a business can come from its product databases, HR systems, CRM systems, social media platforms, and many other places. Every data source is valuable and can be analyzed within its unique source. Unlike when the data is in clusters, it can provide greater value to the business when it is in one place.
Data consolidation means bringing all company data from multiple sources into one place. The data can be retrieved from a data lake, warehouse, or other cloud storage solutions. When it is brought into one place, the entire data can be viewed and analyzed with ease. Consolidated data gives a company a 3600 view of its business health. The company can clean the data, analyze it, and present a report that will benefit the entire business.
One of the strategies businesses use for data consolidation is to deploy an operational data store into their business systems. Although big data is beneficial to companies, finding relevant data stores is a bigger challenge. It is more problematic when the company has to generate a separate report from each data source. The company finds itself dealing with complicated data processing and analysis procedures. What is required is a solution to bring the data to a single view/all-inclusive source.
The operational data store provides companies with better entire data view solutions. The ODS is a modern management system for databases. It consolidates data collected from different sources into one place. The ODS is particularly useful when consolidating a company’s transactional data generated from multiple production systems. The ODS integrates the data and avails it for viewing into a single source.
The operational data store is created to integrate raw data available in multiple file formats. It then stores it in a single format and ensures it only avails current data. Many business people consider the ODS as the base for querying without overworking the transactional system. It is used when company management needs to make operational decisions.
Data aggregation
Every modern business must focus on creating a resilient system for business management. One of the ways to achieve this is to have modernized solutions for managing data sources and storage. When a company’s data is scattered widely, it becomes hard to decide which data is most useful. It becomes hard to manage it or to get critical information from it. Most companies today rely on information to make key decisions.
Data aggregation is used when the business wants to have an entire view of summarized data. When raw data is available in one place, it may look too complicated if it is not cleaned. Several steps are involved in the data cleaning process.
First, all unwanted data, such as duplicate information, is removed. One data set may contain information that is similar to another data set. It may have duplicate email addresses, telephone numbers, company names, URLs, physical addresses, and names. If it is processed during analysis, it will either give an exaggerated or irrelevant report.
The data may have structural errors, and these are removed or corrected in the data cleaning phase. The data is viewed to check if there are any missing links or information. The data is then validated, standardized, and viewed from one source. Different data aggregation tools are available in the market.
Benefits of viewing all your data in one place
Different tools help with collecting data from different sources in one place. A company may use tools such as the operational data store, Hadoop, Spark, or other applications. Aggregation helps a company achieve various benefits.
The management can get insights from the data
A huge load of raw data cannot be useful when a company wants to extract ideas from it. In its raw form, the data cannot make sense and may not benefit the company in any way. Cleaning the data and availing it in one place will help the management make informed decisions.
It is easy to extract the data
The management team may not want to use the entire data available. They may want to get information from a portion of it. They may want to get insights into why customers are requesting a specific kind of service or product more. In this case, they may want to use only the portion of data that regards the specific product or service. Data extraction focuses on targeting a specific portion of the available data.
It is easy to modify the data
Data modification means changing the data into a format that is easy to use. Raw data collected from multiple sources is usually available in different file formats. Some of it can be JPEG, PDF, Word, videos, etc. The aggregation process includes changing the data into one format that makes it easy to use.
It is easy to visualize and analyze the data
When all data is viewed from one place, it is easy to visualize and analyze it. Data should provide a company with real-time insights into what is happening within the business. The report can be used to make actionable decisions for both short-term and long-term solutions. Availability of the data in one place makes it easy to evaluate both the current and future business needs.
Improving privacy and saving costs
Companies spend a lot of money to protect data. It is harder to protect data that is scattered in multiple databases. When the data is in one place, it is easier to process it faster. The company will spend less time and money working on data security structures. A company can save more costs in terms of investing in data processing and cybersecurity systems.
