The simplicity of ETL tools: Every Marketer’s Solace

In today’s data-driven marketing world, every organization is trying to make sense of the term “big data”. But that’s not it. The bigger challenge is that the data is scattered across multiple platforms and devices, and it’s chaotic.

Now, the question is how to get all the data from the different marketing sources into a usable format?

Well, the solution can be described in just three letters – ETL

ETL (Extract, Transform, and Load) has become a vital aspect of business intelligence. With the best ETL tools, you can gather data from different sources in a single place to run analytics and dig out valuable & actionable insights.

Evaluating the best ETL tool for your business is another major challenge that you may face. But don’t worry, as this article will help you navigate through the importance of ETL and what factors you need to consider while getting an ETL tool for your business.

What is ETL?

In the world of digital competition, data plays a crucial part in thriving or stagnating any business. An overwhelming amount of data is available to every business, making it difficult for them to turn the complex data silos into useful information.

Fortunately, ETL helps businesses become a pro at data-driven analytics. Let’s take a look at what ETL ‍is and why it is important.

ETL stands for Extract, Transform and Load, and involves a three-step process.

• Extract: The process begins with the acquisition of data from multiple sources. To maintain the effectiveness of the process, the data is collected directly from its source and in its rawest form.
• Transform: In this step, the collected data is stripped down from its various formats and converted into a single preferred format.
• Load: The transformed data is now loaded in a target database, including database applications and business intelligence (BI) tools. At the end of this step, the data is ready for analytics.

ETL is the solution that helps you deal with the diverse and complex data silos daily. At present, ETL has become the foundation of data-driven marketing and has provided marketers with simplified solutions to format their data in a number of different ways.

To become a truly data-driven business, you can invest in a next-generation ETL tool. Without the right tool at your end, you will find yourself crushed under a pile of data that will take months to become analytics-ready.

Different types of ETL tools

ETL tools break down the complex data silos and simplify the task of marketers to access and analyze data and turn the same into useful business information, which is further used for analysis. They lay the foundation for an effective data warehousing process that helps you power decision-making and achieve better results in less time.

There are different categories of ETL tools that you can choose from. To make your task a bit easier, here we are explaining each one of the categories:

Batch-processing tools

The tools prepare and process data in batch files when the organization’s on-premise compute resources are in the least demand. Traditionally, this type of data processing is mainly used for workloads that are not urgent, like monthly reports or annual reports. Although the method went under evolution and can now process data at a rapid speed, helping you get your hands on the crucial information in the least time possible.

Open source tools

With open source ETL tools, you can integrate with a wide range of applications and operating systems. The tool is ideal for marketers that are dedicated to flexibility, accountability, and frequent updates. If your organization has limited IT resources, these tools can be your best investment.

Cloud-based tools

The cloud-based tools help you integrate data from any number of online sources and store the same into an online destination, making it easier for you to access data from anywhere and at any time. With these tools at your disposal, you don’t have to invest a single penny to build a physical data warehouse or any other hardware. The solution manages large amounts of data efficiently and gives marketers the freedom to create and monitor automated ETL data pipelines from a single interface.

Real-time tools

The only drawback with cloud-based and open-source ETL tools is that they process data in batches (although faster). The marketers still have to wait for some time to get access to crucial business information. That’s the reason why real-time ETL tools came into existence. They capture data and deliver it to data applications in real-time. This helps organizations to make the right decisions at the right time without wasting a second. Nevertheless, this real-time access to data often comes with a hefty price tag.

DataChannel – An integrated ETL & Reverse ETL solution

• 100+ Data Sources. DataChannel’s ever-expanding list of supported data sources includes all popular advertising, marketing, CRM, financial, and eCommerce platforms and apps along with support for ad-hoc files, google sheets, cloud storages, relational databases, and ingestion of real-time data using webhooks. If we do not have the integration you need, reach out to our team and we will build it for you for free.
• Powerful scheduling and orchestration features with granular control over scheduling down to the exact minute.
• Granular control over what data to move. Unlike most tools which are highly opinionated and dictate what data they would move, we allow you the ability to choose down to field level what data you need. If you need to add another dimension or metric down the line, our easy to use UI lets you do that in a single click without any breaking changes to your downstream process.
• Extensive Logging, fault tolerance and automated recovery allows for dependable and reliable pipelines. If we are unable to recover, the extensive notifications will alert you via slack, app and email for taking appropriate action.
• Built to scale at an affordable cost. Our best in class platform is built with all ETL best practices built to handle billions of rows of data and will scale with your business when you need them to, while allowing you to only pay for what you use today.
• Get started in minutes. Get started in minutes with our self-serve UI or with the help of our on-boarding experts who can guide you through the process. We provide extensive documentation support and content to guide you all the way.
• Managed Data Warehouse. While cloud data warehouses offer immense flexibility and opportunity, managing them can be a hassle without the right team and resources. If you do not want the trouble of managing them in-house, use our managed warehouse offering and get started today. Whenever you feel you are ready to do it in-house, simply configure your own warehouse and direct pipelines to it.
• Activate your data with Reverse ETL. Be future-ready and don’t let your data sit idle in the data warehouse or stay limited to your BI dashboards. The unidimensional approach toward data management is now undergoing a paradigm change. Instead, use DataChannel’s reverse ETL offering to send data to the tools your business teams use every day. Set up alerts & notifications on top of your data warehouse and sync customer data across all platforms converting your data warehouse into a powerful CDP (Customer Data Platform). You can even preview the data without ever leaving the platform.