Choosing Data Integration Software: 8 Essential Questions to Ask

The right data integration software can help your organization to see through the most complex data sets and drive insights that help you grow and succeed in your present and future endeavors. The data integration tools will help you to automate the tedious task of collecting data from multiple systems and formatting it to fetch crucial information. With the automation of breaking the big data silos, your data specialist will be spared with enough time to move their efforts to other core processes.

But choosing the right data integration software is not as easy as it seems, particularly when your needs are complex. You can choose between different tools like cloud data integration tools, open-source data integration tools, and others that work best for your organization. We are outlining eight essential questions you must ask yourself and your team to get the right data integration solution for your business.

Why you need the data integration software:

The foremost question you should ask is for what purpose you are going to need the data integration software. The purpose will help you to find the software that meets your exact needs. The vendors can provide you unique features and benefits if you are clear about what you want from your data integration platform. Getting the software that processes your business applications accurately can boost your success rate.

Where is your data located:

Once you know for what purpose you need the software, the second question is what are the source systems from which you want to fetch the data. Whether you are working with a single database or multiple data sources, or want to move your data from cloud to on-premise systems or vice versa, have a great influence on your decision of choosing a data integration software.

What your future data needs will be:

Along with evaluating your current data needs, you must anticipate your future data needs, whether there is going to be a change in the volume of data or complexity. Will you be needing a data warehouse or will require a more flexible data platform. Putting your hands on a data integration software by keeping your present as well as future needs clear will help you stay in the competitive market for a long time.

Who is going to work with the software:

Which department in your organization is going to work on the software will impact your decision of choosing the data integration software. How much manual work your personnel is willing to do or what their technical capabilities will impact your choice. Also, make sure that the vendor provides you the support like software implementation, addressing the technical doubts, and other additional operational support.

How much money you are willing to invest:

How much you are willing to invest in a data integration software impacts your decision. Go for the software that does not incur license expenses, excess maintenance costs, and other miscellaneous costs. Equally, also don’t go for a vendor that might seem cheaper initially but is not a specialist in data integration and may struggle to support you. Do your research wisely and understand what the different vendors’ are offering as poorly integrated data can cost your business significantly.

How to get a demo:

Many vendors will be willing to give you their software standard demo, which can help you find whether the respective software will meet your organizational needs or not. Investing your capital in the software that can consolidate all your relevant business data effectively to provide you useful insights into your business and the respective market can help you add rockets to your growth. In addition to this, also test out your vendor’s technical knowledge to ensure whether he will be able to address all your data-related issues.

What to look for in a vendor:

After knowing the right kind of data integration software you need, it's time to find the appropriate vendor. Different vendors will offer you a slightly different set of services, but choosing the one whose range of services matches your requirements will be the one to go for. Make sure the vendor you are finalizing is tech-savvy so that if in future you find any issue in your data integration process, he/she will be able to handle the same.

How will you implement the chosen software:

Implementing the data integration software into your business processes may not be as seamless as you expected. There will always be some errors at the initial stage. Therefore, make sure that your vendor provides you the adequate support and documentation to help your personnel to make the most out of the software.

Each business has different data integration needs, and it is also not necessary that the solution that works perfectly for your current data requirements will work for your future needs as well. Therefore, you must keep in mind the questions mentioned above before finalizing the right software.