Together with Big Data analytics, Data application and Data management, Data integration is in our scope of work. Our key software in this part is Informatica Software. Data integration is the process of combining data from many different sources—typically for analysis, business intelligence, reporting, or loading—into an application. The benefit is that you gain one view of all your data and can stop wasting time looking for it in its silos.
A data integration project usually involves the following steps:
- Accessing data from all its sources and locations, whether those are on premises or in the cloud or some combination of both.
- Integrating data, so that records from one data source map to records in another (e.g., even if one dataset uses “lastname, firstname” and another uses “fname, lname,” the integrated set will make sure both end up in the right place). This type of data preparation is essential for analytics or other applications to be able to use the data with any success.
- Delivering integrated data to the business exactly when the business needs it, whether it is in batch, near real time, or real time.
Informatica offers several products for data integration:
- Advanced Data Transformation – A comprehensive, enterprise-class data transformation solution for any data type, regardless of format, complexity, or size.
- B2B Data Exchange – Securely integrate any data from external data sources or trading partners with complete end-to-end visibility.
- Connectors (PowerExchange) – Provides out-of-the-box, high-performance connectivity to all enterprise data, eliminating the risk and cost of hand coding.
- Data Integration Hub – Delivers an innovative, publish-and-subscribe hub approach for elegant, alternative point-to-point integrations.
- PowerCenter – The industry’s only fully integrated, end-to-end, agile data integration platform.
- Real-Time Integration – These products work with PowerCenter and integrate and provision operational data in real time.