by CData Software | January 19, 2024

What Is Data Warehouse Integration? 5 Advantages and Use Cases

Data warehousing is a critical part of day-to-day business activities for many modern organizations. A well-managed data warehouse provides a centralized store of important information for analytics, business intelligence (BI), and reporting. It’s vital to an organization’s operations and key to deriving accurate, actionable insights from data.

Over time, however, more business data is generated, and new services and platforms are adopted, which means that additional data needs to be collected and stored. Without a solid data integration strategy, silos can develop. Soon, reports and analyses are delayed, IT teams are scrambling to build custom code that supports the increasing demand, and the information coming out of the scattered data landscape becomes less trustworthy.

In this blog post, we’ll introduce you to data warehouse integration and its advantages. We’ll also describe a few real-world use cases to underscore its importance in breaking down data silos, improving data quality, and creating actionable insights from current, reliable, and healthy data.

What is data warehouse integration?

First, let’s go over the concept of data warehousing. You can think of a physical warehouse or library as an analog—a large, organized repository of things, in this case, data. Data warehousing is the process of collecting and managing data from various sources, like services, business systems, databases, data lakes, etc.

It’s more than just storage; data warehousing involves organizing, cleansing, and structuring the data to make it useful for analysis. A well-structured data warehouse acts like a central library, where data from different departments and functions within an organization is categorized, accessible, and ready for use.

A recent data study from CData found that one-third of organizations use more than 100 different applications and systems to manage their data. And as organizations grow, their data needs change. Specialized or protected data may be generated in separate systems. There may be an acquisition or merger with another company. Or an organization expands to another geographical location. In each case, more data is acquired, each one a separate ‘library’ with its own cataloging system. As data sources multiply, it increases the likelihood of creating data silos—isolated pockets of data that may be accessible to some departments but invisible to others. Perhaps worse is the possibility that one system might hold outdated information. These ‘disconnects’ between the data and the people who need it present challenges in generating accurate analyses.

Disconnected data sources also complicate the data management process. Each individual data store, with its singular structure and format, contributes to the difficulty of pulling data together to get a comprehensive view of the organization's data landscape.

The data pipeline becomes more convoluted, requiring more time to access and process the data. Custom code might be created to try to bridge the gaps, but more data sources may require more ad-hoc code. While this may be practical now, this reactive approach can lead to a tangled web of makeshift solutions. Each new script or patch, meant to solve an immediate problem, multiplies the complexity of the system. Soon, IT teams find themselves managing a patchwork of codes and systems that are hard to maintain and prone to errors. As data volumes grow, IT struggles to keep up, leading to bottlenecks in data processing.

The result is that departments end up with older, potentially inaccurate, or conflicting data for their reports and analysis, skewing or invalidating the insights gleaned from them. Increased costs and inconsistent data management practices are likely to be a concern at this point, as well.

This is where data warehouse integration comes into play. It removes silos by connecting individual data silos into a single cohesive system, allowing unified access to all the stored data. Think of it as organizing a vast collection of books from different libraries into a single, well-ordered catalog.

Data warehouse integration works by standardizing data formats to ensure compatibility and then merging similar data points to reduce redundancies. For example, if customer data is stored in two separate locations, the integration acts as a cross-checker, making sure that the information matches. The result is a centralized resource that makes it easier to access information for analysis and business intelligence. It simplifies data management and enhances data quality, which supports more accurate and timely insights across the organization.

The top 5 advantages of data warehouse integration

With data volumes growing exponentially, modern organizations understand that their data management strategy should include robust data warehouse integration. Bringing different data sources together into one system makes it easier to handle and use the data effectively, improving how businesses understand and act on that information.

1. Data access is faster. Data warehouse integration merges data into a coherent system, allowing faster access and reducing complexity.
2. Business intelligence is more robust. Bringing together data from various sources provides a more comprehensive view of their operations. Data warehouse integration provides more comprehensive and accurate insights for improved reporting, trend analysis, and strategic planning.
3. Data quality and consistency is improved. Trustworthy data is the foundation of data-driven decision-making. Data warehouse integration ensures that all data across the organization is standardized and cleaned, ensuring that data is high-quality and consistent.
4. ROI (return on investment) is increased. Data warehouse integration can reduce operating and server space costs by removing the need for multiple storage and processing systems. Cost efficiency also comes from the improved insights gained to drive better business strategies and outcomes.
5. Data just performs better. With data consolidated in a central warehouse, data handling and analysis are more efficient. Data warehouse integration allows for faster processing speeds and more efficient queries. Data is fresher, which drives innovation for enhanced user experiences and more efficient business operations.

Common use cases of data warehouse integration

The uses for data warehouse integration extend to nearly all industries and business goals. These are just a few of the ways data warehouse integration is used to create a smoother data access and management experience.

Marketing campaigns

A unified pool of data is a powerful tool for marketing teams in all industries. Teams can work from a single source of customer data to analyze, track, and target marketing campaigns, knowing that the information is fresh and accurate. Centralizing marketing data also helps with well-defined audience segmentation, focusing their marketing efforts on campaigns that work.

IoT data analysis and integration

The vast amount of data generated by IoT (Internet of Things) devices is easily managed with data warehouse integration. Organizations can analyze and use information gathered from IoT devices more effectively and enable advanced analysis to plan maintenance cycles, manage resources, and provide an improved customer experience. Real-time monitoring enables improved response times, which is crucial in healthcare and manufacturing.

Separating transactional and analytical data from apps

E-commerce and financial applications can generate vast amounts of transactional data that need to be separated from analytical data for efficient processing. Data warehouse integration can be used to allow transactional systems to run efficiently, separating them from the heavy load of analytical processing without impacting the performance of either one. This also boosts data security, protecting sensitive transactional data from potential breaches.

Evaluating team performance across the organization

Evaluating team performance in large organizations becomes more manageable with data warehouse integration. Consolidating diverse performance metrics into one central system provides managers with a unified view across departments. This unified data reveals insights into sales, customer service, production, and more, helping to identify areas that are doing well and those that need improvement.

Efficient data warehouse integration with CData

CData Sync simplifies data warehouse integration, reducing silos and fragmentation across your entire data landscape. With a powerful, easy-to-use interface, CData Sync helps ensure your data is accessible, unified, and up-to-date, enabling informed decisions to gain competitive advantage in today's data-driven world.