The Beginners Guide To DATA INTEGRATION. Everything you need to know about the process and benefits of data integration.

Transcription

1 The Beginners Guide To DATA INTEGRATION Everything you need to know about the process and benefits of data integration.

2 INTRODUCTION Do you spend too much precious time scouring through different systems for one specific piece of information? Or perhaps you re wasting time and money manually exporting and importing data from one system to another. Whether you re looking to integrate financial data about a client into your CRM, integrate your marketing team s lead list into your support system, or even sync your product data into your CRM for your sales team, you may be forced to go through multiple databases to find the right data. This can be frustrating as well as time consuming, and in the fast paced corporate world, time is money. Gone are the archaic days of sifting through company data one by one, or transferring it manually with endless spreadsheets. Now, thanks to advancements in software technology, you can integrate everything you need into one easyto-use system. The whole purpose of data integration is to streamline data availability and the data retrieval process, so that your team can be more efficient. If this sounds like something you and your company could benefit from, keep reading. We ve put together the quintessential beginner s guide to data integration so you can better understand the process. This guide should also show you exactly why you would benefit from a data integration service like Bedrock Data. 1.

3 TABLE OF CONTENTS What Exactly is Data Integration?... 3 How Data Integration Works: The Almighty API...4 Deciding How to Integrate Your Data...6 Field Mappings... 7 Starting Your Integration...8 Integration Risks and Considerations...9 Ongoing Maintenance and Improvements Conclusion

4 What Exactly Is DATA INTEGRATION? In the simplest of terms, data integration consolidates your data together into one place from many different software platforms and databases. Your data is then normalized and synced back out to the systems/databases as it changes in near real-time. This data warehouse serves as a virtual snapshot of all your records, and the mapped fields that you ve defined. If your company uses more than one system or database to store your data, you would benefit from data integration. Additionally, if your company employs more than 100 employees, data integration will help you to stay organized and keep your data in sync with no manual effort. Once the data transfer is complete and all of your sales, marketing, finance, employee, and client data is in one place, you won t ever have to perform manual data manipulation again. This alone should be enough to make you consider implementing a data management and integration service for your business. CRM LEADS CONTACTS ACCOUNTS OPPORTUNITIES ACTIVITIES BACKUP API S CONTACTS ANALYTICS ACCOUNTS ACTIVITIES MKTG 3.

5 How Data Integration Works: API S EXPLAINED HOW AN API WORKS For starters, API stands for Application Programming Interface. Just like you use a User Interface ( UI ) to interact with systems, computer programs can interact with APIs of those same systems. APIs are how data on the web is moved around any system, even amongst the most popular apps out there, including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. APPLICATION/CLIENT API s are the backbone of any data integration system. To apply APIs and their functions to everyday life, think of them like gossiping. Just like you would take information you hear from one friend and share it with another, an API allows data to be shared between multiple software platforms. API REQUESTS With regard to your business systems, APIs share the information you have scattered throughout different departments and applications. This makes it easier to find the data that you need, because it will automatically be in any system you connect. SERVER DATA SOURCE API RESPONSE 4.

6 How Data Integration Works: API S EXPLAINED CONTINUED... When you utilize a data integration service, you want to make sure all of your company s information is shared with the data warehouse. This information would then be moved between each of the different software platforms you may use on a daily basis. This will ensure that when you re looking for client data, it will be in all systems you re using, rather than just one. Just like With gossiping, the story you tell can be embellished as it is shared amongst different people. Unlike gossiping, though, when your data is shared in this way, you don t have to worry about it being corrupted by outside sources. The information you seek once everything has been compiled into one system will be just as pristine as it was before the transfer process. WEBSITES CONNECTED TV APPS 3RD PARTY APPS MOBILE APPS API S DELIVER DATA WIDGETS, GADGETS, BADGES CLOUD COMPUTING SOCIAL NETWORKS 5.

7 Deciding How To INTEGRATE YOUR DATA Once you ve made the decision to integrate your data into one system, all that s left is figuring out how you want to go about it. There are a large number of data integration platforms to choose from, so it all comes down to features, price, and how comfortable you are with different software applications. While some services require self-setup as well as a working knowledge of SaaS administration, others can be done by a third party reseller. Bedrock Data for instance, is a self-signup and self-administration service. Our goal is to teach you about data integration so that you can setup and administer your integration on your own, without our help. We will also provide support and training over the phone with your team, we ll also monitor the initial transfer before the data integration even starts. This will take a lot of the potential headache out of the process for you and your company and you can be assured that it will be done properly. Our goal is to teach you about data integration so that you can setup and administer your integration on your own, without our help. 6.

8 FIELD MAPPINGS This is probably the most important part of any data integration project. When you re moving every piece of information your company has produced or needs on a daily basis between systems, you want to make sure everything matches up properly. With different people making changes to customer or client information, sometimes fields won t link up properly. FOR EXAMPLE Say you have a client named Robert Owen. Depending on who he s spoken to within your company, his name could be entered into different systems as Robert or Bob. Choosing which systems should own certain fields will ensure that data overwriting is controlled to your specifications. BOB ROBERT ROBERT OWEN CONTROLLED DATA OVERWRITING To make sure your fields are matched properly, you ll want to use a system that allows you to keep all of your mapped fields in one central spot. It will also be helpful if that system tells you where data conflicts may live so that you can address them. 7.

9 Starting Your INTEGRATION Once you have your fields mapped and you ve defined the data that you want to sync between systems as a part of your integration, you re ready to start the integration app. When starting your integration, there are a couple of considerations to note: 1 2 Do you want all of your existing data to be synced between the systems that you ve connected? This will essentially create a mirror of your data in the systems that you re integrating. Would you rather starting syncing data on a go forward basis, meaning that no old data will be synced immediately. Only new and edited data will be synced after you start the integration. Once the integration process is complete, you ll be able to search for information in any system that you ve integrated. No longer will you be forced to manually peruse through each and every system your company uses to find specific data for each client or employee. 8.

10 Integration RISKS AND CONSIDERATIONS One thought that may have crossed your mind as you have been considering a data integration project: What if my data gets screwed up? First of all: it s a totally valid concern. Secondly, if you re using a platform like Bedrock Data, there is very little to worry about. Remember, most all data integration platforms on the market today will, by default, only sync your data on an ongoing basis, meaning that the platform is not going to go back and overwrite data in one system or another. Now, as your data changes, it s the data integration software s job to keep your data in sync, so certain data may get overwritten in any system. The key there is to make sure that the right fields are being overwritten in priority order. FOR EXAMPLE If you re integrating a finance system and CRM, you likely want the finance system to own the revenue field, as it will be consistently more accurate. In this case, you want the finance system s field to be able to overwrite the CRM. 9.

11 Ongoing MAINTENANCE AND IMPROVEMENTS Life in the corporate world can change at the blink of an eye. Some companies can start out with their s on one platform only for this to change if they re bought out by another corporation. With Bedrock Data, thanks to your clean field mapping, you only need to make one change and it is automatically synchronized across the board. Before data integration, this was cause for irritation and aggravation because of all the work that went into updating this information. Back then, you would have to access each and every system your company used to update every address for every employee of that company. With Bedrock Data, thanks to your clean field mapping, you only need to make one change and it is automatically synchronized across the board. Because of the instant synchronization offered by Bedrock Data, should the systems you normally use go through maintenance or improvements, the amount of work on your end is minimal. On the other hand, we are also always making improvements to our own system to make life easier for everyone. 10.

12 IN CONCLUSION Hopefully we ve provided you with any information you may need to make an educated decision about implementing a data integration system for your company. Should you have any questions about anything that may not have been covered in this guide, feel free to contact us at any time. We will be more than happy to get you started. EASILY INTEGRATE YOUR BUSINESS DATA You can use Bedrock to sync between your cloud business systems and keep a running backup of your critical business data. TRY BEDROCK FOR FREE Bedrock Data is a data management platform that allows businesses to synchronize and manage their data quickly and easily. Bedrock connects to a lot of different business systems, including CRMs, ERPs, Marketing, , Support, Finance and E-commerce systems. Connect with us to learn more, or just get started with an integration today. 745 Atlantic Ave. 3rd Floor Boston, MA sales@bedrockdata.com