Big Data has been praised a lot in the past years, it is the new kid on the block that everyone is talking about. And indeed it holds great power – and you just decided to tap into it. All your data should now be integrated into such a platform.

As with any other integration, you will need to follow a series of steps that will ensure the process unfolds flawlessly, reaping the best possible results for your company.

Planning ahead

You are not the only one if the first thing that pops into your mind when you think about implementing data integration solutions is the technological aspect. Common dilemmas tend to revolve around the readiness of the systems and the need to get extra infrastructure.

No matter how tech-oriented the times we live in now are, implementing a new solution can only happen if people are involved too. And people best organize processes by planning them carefully.

This is because projects tend to fail without carefully built plans. A good plan is built on a foundation of business goals, that indicate what change is needed and desired. Of course, this plan needs to have a realistic timeline, as well as designated people in charge of each task. Otherwise, everyone in your company will be working chaotically, overlapping their work, using valuable time to clarify such issues and eventually costing you money.

What are the metrics you should consider?

OK, so how will you know if your plan has a beneficial outcome for your company? The easiest way to tell is to establish your desired metrics – you should be doing this at the end of your planning process. For example, you may want to reduce order processing times, so that your customers are more satisfied with your business. You are the one in control – you get to set the percentage value with which you are comfortable and according to that, you will know how well everything went.

Clean data makes for a clean integration

Implementing data integration solutions can be performed closely linked to the data at hand. It is not enough to simply have data – it needs to be ready for the integration.

First of all, in order to integrate the relevant sources you will need to know the location of your data storage. Additionally, you should find out if we are talking about a standard format or not.

Furthermore, make sure that your data is complete, accurate and that from this point of view, it will not create any unwanted problems down the line. Think about how you can import the data and how you can connect your source data to the Big Data platform.

The best practices that are in place for this type of implementation are there to help you reap the most benefits you can from the process and to minimize any unpleasant scenarios. If you need support throughout your implementation process, don’t hesitate to give us a call.