4 Data Integration Mistakes to Avoid in 2024

Learn about the common data integration pitfalls to avoid in 2024 and practical tips to ensure the success of your next data project.

Has your data project failed to deliver the promised value? Ever wondered what could be the reason? Well, most of the time the culprit lies in your data itself. Your project success hinges on your organization’s ability to effectively capture, manage, and govern information. In short, it depends on how well you’ve planned your data integration processes – the pipelines that bring your data together in a usable form. The better you facilitate trusted and secure data, the higher the chances of achieving maximized transformation. To navigate this crucial aspect, we will discuss four common data integration mistakes to avoid in 2024 and practical data integration tips to ensure that your data project sets the stage for business growth.

Before we delve into the pitfalls, let’s quickly look at the meaning of data integration and why it is important for your organization.

What is Data Integration?

Did you know more than 8 out of 10 business operations leaders view data integration as essential for ongoing operations?

Data integration refers to the technical and business processes used to combine data from various sources into a unified and consistent format.

Here’s an example to help you understand better: Let’s say you are a retail company and have customer purchases stored in two different systems such as POS and e-commerce platform. The POS system collects customer information like names, address, and phone number. Names are stored in a format like ‘Sarah Jolie’ and phone numbers are captured with or without country codes.

On the other hand, the e-commerce platform stores email addresses and uses abbreviations for states in addresses. These inconsistencies in format and structure can cause duplicate records and data quality issues. Data integration converts the names into a consistent format. For instance, “Last Name, First Name.” Phone numbers are standardized to include country codes. You can use modern data integration tools to identify matching customer records across both systems and merge them into a single entry.

“Data Integration is a discipline that comprises the practices, architectural techniques and tools for achieving the consistent access and delivery of data across the spectrum of data subject areas and data structure types in the enterprise to meet the data consumption requirements of all applications and business processes.”

Data Integration Mistakes and Tips to Avoid Them

While each data integration project is different, there are some common execution pitfalls that come in the way of your initiatives. Let’s go through them one by one.

Lack of Clear Vision and Project Strategy

Starting your data integration project without a clear business objective is like launching an arrow into the unknown. When there’s lack of direction, your team may invest time and resources into integrating data without understanding its importance to your company’s goals. This may result in a patchwork of disconnected systems and processes. Even if the technical implementation is flawless, the outcome will likely be irrelevant.

To avoid this pitfall, there are a few questions businesses should ask themselves:

Here are some steps you should take:

Lack of Clear Vision and Project Strategy

Studies suggest that only 16% of companies report having ‘very good’ data quality. Overlooking data quality is a significant data integration mistake because it undermines the integrity and reliability of the integrated data. When you neglect data quality, you risk making decisions based on inaccurate, incomplete, or inconsistent information.

Here’s what you can do to prevent this:

Underestimating the Power of Data Governance

Did you know businesses with bad data risk losing 12% of their revenue? Data governance plays a crucial role in mitigating such risks by enabling data accuracy, integrity, and compliance. Underestimating the power of data governance is a common data integration mistake with far-reaching consequences. Without clear ownership or rules on how data is used, the data integration project can get complicated.

Different departments might use the same information differently, leading to inconsistencies and unreliable results. Think marketing using one format for customer addresses, while finance uses another. Analyzing this data becomes impossible and leads to bad decisions based on inaccurate insights.

Uncontrolled access to data creates security vulnerabilities. Without proper governance, sensitive information like customer details or financial data might be exposed to unauthorized users. This can lead to costly breaches and compliance issues with regulations like GDPR or HIPAA.

Tips to solve the data governance challenge:

Not Investing in a Modern Data Platform

Legacy systems might technically connect your data sources. But they often lack the capabilities for smooth, scalable, and efficient data integration. Traditional infrastructure may lack the robust security features necessary to protect sensitive data from growing cyber threats. This leaves businesses vulnerable to breaches, compliance violations, and reputational damage.

Hence, leveraging a modern data platform for data integration projects becomes important.

Here are some tips to note:

65% of enterprises prefer deploying data integration solutions
on cloud platforms or hybrid cloud environments.

Opt for cloud data integration!

Cloud solutions offer on-demand resources, seamless integration with other services, and built-in security measures. They empower you to adapt quickly to changing requirements and market dynamics. Informatica cloud data integration is a top-notch solution to ace integrated data systems. It is one of the services of Informatica’s Intelligent Data Management Cloud. It enables businesses to ingest, enrich, and transform virtually any data.

Switch to Cloud-Based Data Integration with LumenData

As an Enterprise Platinum Partner with Informatica, we provide expert advisory and implementation services for Informatica’s industry-leading data integration solutions. We’ve developed the best-in-class accelerators and quickstart programs tailored for Informatica that enables customers to go live in weeks. Connect with us today to explore how we enable business transformation with modern data management solutions.

Authors

Picture of Shalu Santvana

Shalu Santvana

Content Crafter

Picture of Mohd Imran

Mohd Imran

Senior Consultant