DATA INTEGRATION
Everything you need to know about the
process and benefits of data integration.
www.bedrockdata.com
INTRODUCTION
Do you spend too much precious time scouring through
different systems for one specific piece of information?
Or perhaps youre wasting time and money manually
exporting and importing data from one system
to another.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
What Exactly is Data Integration?. . .......................................... 3
Conclusion. . ............................................................................................. 11
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W h a t Exa c t l y I s
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 youve 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 wont 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
BACKUP APIS
MKTG
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How Data
Integration Works: HOW AN API WORKS
APIS
EXPLAINED
For starters, API stands for Application
Programming Interface. Just like you use a
User Interface (UI) to interact with systems,
APPLICATION/CLIENT
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.
API RESPONSE
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H ow D a ta I n te g r a t i o n Wo r k s :
APIS EXPLAINED CONTINUED...
When you utilize a data integration Just like With gossiping, the story you
service, you want to make sure all of your tell can be embellished as it is shared
companys information is shared with the amongst different people. Unlike
data warehouse. This information would gossiping, though, when your data is
then be moved between each of the shared in this way, you dont have to
different software platforms you may use worry about it being corrupted by outside
on a daily basis. This will ensure that when sources. The information you seek once
youre looking for client data, it will be in everything has been compiled into one
all systems youre using, rather than system will be just as pristine as it was
just one. before the transfer process.
WEBSITES
APIS
DELIVER DATA
MOBILE WIDGETS,
APPS GADGETS,
BADGES
CLOUD SOCIAL
COMPUTING NETWORKS
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D e c i d i n g H ow To
INTEGRATE YOUR DATA
Once youve made the decision to Bedrock Data for instance, is a self-signup
integrate your data into one system, all and self-administration service. Our goal
thats left is figuring out how you want to is to teach you about data integration so
go about it. that you can setup and administer your
integration on your own, without our help.
There are a large number of data We will also provide support and training
integration platforms to choose from, so over the phone with your team, well also
it all comes down to features, price, and monitor the initial transfer before the data
how comfortable you are with different integration even starts.
software applications.
This will take a lot of the potential
While some services require self-setup headache out of the process for you and
as well as a working knowledge of SaaS your company and you can be assured that
administration, others can be done by a it will be done properly.
third party reseller.
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FIELD MAPPINGS
This is probably the most important part of any data integration project. When youre
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
wont link up properly.
FOR EXAMPLE
Say you have a client named Robert Owen. Depending on who hes 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
CONTROLLED DATA
ROBERT OWEN OVERWRITING
To make sure your fields are matched properly, youll 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.
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S ta r t i n g Yo u r
INTEGRATION
Once you have your fields mapped and youve defined the data that you want to sync
between systems as a part of your integration, youre ready to start the integration app.
1 Do you want all of your existing data to be synced between the systems that
youve connected? This will essentially create a mirror of your data in the
systems that youre integrating.
2 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, youll be able to search for information in any
system that youve 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.
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I n te g r a t i o n
RISKS AND
CONSIDERATIONS
One thought that may have crossed your mind as you have been considering a data
integration project:
FOR EXAMPLE
If youre 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 systems field to be able to overwrite the CRM.
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Ongoing
MAINTENANCE
AND IMPROVEMENTS
Life in the corporate world can change at
the blink of an eye. Some companies can
start out with their emails on one platform
only for this to change if theyre bought
out by another corporation.
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IN CONCLUSION
Hopefully weve 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,
Email, 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. 02111 1-877-588-2671 sales@bedrockdata.com www.bedrockdata.com
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