Being data-driven is a priority for the majority of businesses. However, only 48% of business leaders note that their companies are data-driven organizations.
The problem is not a lack of data. Virtually every company is flush with data from ad hoc spreadsheets, analytics from the web and social media traffic, and user data captured by the CRM and other business technology — to name just a few. Instead, the challenge lies in being able to put data insights into action, something that’s a near impossibility with siloed data.
Enterprise data integration tools break down data silos, consolidating unequal data and creating a unified data set that’s persistent and accessible across the organization.
What is Data Integration?
Data integration is the process of combining data from different sources to provide a unified view. This practice is crucial for businesses and organizations as it enables them to analyze and use data more effectively.
There are several different ways to integrate data, with the most well known being through custom code or connector applications. However, data integration can be a smoother process if an iPaaS is used. Using an iPaaS for data integration makes the process much faster, and allows for the benefits of data integration to outweigh the cons.
Below, we break down the top 9 benefits of data integration.
9 Key Benefits of Enterprise Data Integration Tools
#1 – Increasing Data Clarity, Quality, and Value
All data is not created equal. Across the organization, business and customer insights live in different formats: structured and unstructured, on-premises and in the cloud, comprehensive and sparse, standardized and ad hoc.
Often data sets are created and maintained by a single department. Marketing collects survey responses. The sales team cultivates a lead list. Customer service logs product feedback. On its own, each fulfills the department’s basic needs for tracking and documentation. But imagine the power and business impact of the data if it were consolidated.
The real challenge revolves around making sense of all those disparate sets of business data.
Siloed data is associated with numerous issues, especially when trying to incorporate findings from different groups: The information is incomplete, doesn’t match, or is formatted in entirely different ways. As a result, making sense of company data is often a tedious manual process that requires forays into numerous programs, exporting, importing, reformatting, and data cleansing.
Enterprise data integration with Boomi allows organizations to improve the handling and manipulation of all organizational data regardless of type, structure, or source. Plus, the integration process improves data quality, running syntactic and semantic checks to ensure data complies with business rules and policies, along with deduplication and deletion of incorrectly or improperly formatted data.
Event streams allow automated real-time reporting based on the most complete and accurate data. Boomi also provides solutions to make the data more readable and useful for decision-making — including drag-and-drop UI, data mapping tools, and a comprehensive library of connectors, coupled with support for various integration patterns that enable you to build any integrations with exceptional speed.
#2 – Reducing Organizational Friction
If departments have different information, they will draw different conclusions, and tend to favor to the takeaways backed by their preferred data set. Without consensus, there can be cross-departmental friction in determining and prioritizing business needs, including resentment for how funds are allocated and skepticism about the potential success of the planned activities of other departments.
When organizations can use the full extent of their collective knowledge, however, things run more smoothly. When all employees are pulling from the same collection of data, decisions are more productive and accurate. Products are designed with features that meet demonstrated customer needs. All stakeholders are happier.
After data integration with Boomi, employees across the enterprise can gain access to all of the company’s data. The result is improved operational intelligence, reusable business logic, and data flow recommendations to simplify your integration process and error resolution.
Want to learn more about how Boomi’s low-code, drag-and-drop integration can connect your data and applications faster than you ever imagined? Watch our demo.
#3 – Centralizing Key Business Information
Each day, employees across your organization are generating valuable information with the power to improve corporate decision-making. But all too often, this critical data is isolated within individual departments, with gated access to outsiders.
When data sources aren’t connected, the company suffers from redundant work, outdated information, and decisions made based on partial or inaccurate data. And, if a business leader is unable to track down the right information, sometimes critical business decisions aren’t made at all.
Enterprise data integration tools provide a secure solution that offers employees self-service access to the totality of the organization’s business information. With centralized access to data, employees can make more accurate decisions and spend less time preparing and analyzing data.
What’s more, with Boomi, you can deploy integrations in the location that best fits your organization — be it a data warehouse or a data lake, behind the firewall or in a private or public cloud. It’s also easy for you to centrally manage the data: A cloud-hosted dashboard provides a comprehensive overview and reporting on data status and processing.
#4 – Improving Data Regulation Adherence
In all companies, there is some need for a level of data compliance. While the specific requirements may vary by company, one area that spans across industries is customer data privacy.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) from the European Union and California Consumer Data Privacy Act (CCPA) are just the beginning. In the coming months and years, the push for even more data privacy will underscore the need for a comprehensive, persistent view of a customer’s data and preferences across all customer-facing platforms.
Data integration with Boomi can help resolve compliance issues resulting from data fragmentation. With centralized data, it is easy to track and document data sources and any notable changes. And, by preserving the security of the data throughout the process, companies will be more prepared to meet audit requirements.
#5 – Strengthening Lead Generation Strategy
The quality of your leads is directly linked to the quality of your data. If a sales representative is unaware of marketing activities, that’s a missed opportunity for cross-selling or upselling efforts.
But with poor data quality, there is also a danger of completely alienating prospects altogether. If the business development team sends prospecting letters with incorrect information—you may do irreversible damage to your company’s reputation. Customers are increasingly demanding a personalized experience and are unlikely to forgive a faux pas as grievous as calling them Sally when their name is Stan.
By integrating business data with Boomi, business development professionals and sales leaders will be able to discern actionable information based on the current state of the business. Armed with this information, company representatives can effectively drive reliable, efficient business exchanges.
#6 – Stronger Data Security
With a centralized data approach, it is easier to implement and maintain strict security protocols. Integrated systems allow for a more uniform security policy and protocols across all data sources, ensuring that all data is protected to the same standard.
#7 – Improved Agility
Legacy systems often make it difficult to reap the benefits of the latest innovations. Data integration allows for more flexibility when it comes to adapting to internal or external changes. This gives companies a competitive edge, as they can stay up to date with the latest demands.
#8 – Potential for More Revenue
Just like data integration can reveal the full customer experience, it can also identify areas of opportunity. Sales teams are better positioned to notice gaps or areas of improvement, allowing behavior data to gauge demand for a product or offering.
#9 – Better Customer Experiences
Between the more personalized sales experience, offerings being updated based on user needs, and more security, customers are much more likely to have a good customer experience. With such a saturated market, it is imperative to keep your existing customers happy with your product, which data integration can do.
Accelerate Meaningful Connections With Your Data
Enterprise data integration tools like the unified Boomi iPaaS help companies harness the full power of organizational data for better decision-making and business results. The five benefits covered above only scratch the surface.
Want to learn more about how Boomi’s low-code, drag-and-drop integration can connect your data and applications faster than you ever imagined? Watch our free 10-minute demo or contact our team of experts.