How To Choose The Best Data Ingestion Tool

We’d like to get a couple of things off our chest.

First, your choice of data ingestion tool is a crucial investment in the future of your IT operations.

Second, choosing the right data ingestion tool doesn’t have to be difficult when you know what to look for.

OK, we feel better now.

But... there’s obviously more to unpack here. So, let’s explore the importance of data ingestion tools in more detail, and let’s address the most important things to look out for when choosing your data ingestion tool.

Boost productivity

With the right data ingestion tool, you’ll boost productivity and ingest data into your systems more quickly.

This unlocks some key benefits that will allow you to:

• Convert more sales leads. When your business can ingest any kind of data, quickly and at scale, you’ll have easier pre-sales conversations. There’s no more ‘you’ll have to change the data to these standards’ to your prospects. Without this friction in the sales process, you’ll inevitably land more deals.
• Accelerate onboarding customers. Once you can ingest data quickly, whether it’s for a SaaS business or something else, you can onboard clients more quickly too. Of course, the faster you onboard clients, the sooner they’ll get value from your product or service. Naturally, this leads to higher client retention.

As you can see, choosing a data tool that boosts productivity and accelerates data ingestion has clear benefits. But how can a data ingestion tool achieve this? Well, as we’re unashamed fans of our own platform, let’s look at how CloverDX can do it.

When you use a tool like CloverDX, the boost in productivity comes from the reusability of pre-built templates, and through the combination of visual design and coding. What's more, our tool encourages tech and business teams to communicate clearly through the use of data models and Excel mapping documents that can be directly ingested and executed with CloverDX.

Solve your complex problems

You don’t want a data ingestion tool that only gets you part of the way to a solution. It’s like going 80 percent of the way to your holiday destination but no further – what's the point?

Unfortunately, it’s a scenario that many businesses have to face. Some data ingestion tools only resolve the easy parts of data ingestion, but leave you in the lurch when it comes to your more complex needs.

For example, you might have a legacy data source that’s difficult to connect with your existing systems. Or, you might need complex data mapping rules because you’ve got many data sources to connect with your systems.

Whatever the case, and no matter the complexity, a tool like CloverDX will solve 100 percent of your data ingestion needs. That’s because CloverDX is a flexible and customizable solution that can be bent to completely meet your goals. We’ve got a wealth of experience solving complex data needs in multiple sectors, including sectors with stringent regulations and highly sensitive data, such as FinTech.

It’s also helpful to note that you won’t have to go it alone. Our team will work alongside you to solve your needs and get you to whatever ‘victory’ looks like for you. They won’t leave you with the platform and expect you to ‘figure it out’ by yourself. (Yes, that can happen with other platforms.)

Utilize automation

There are a few key benefits to adopting an automated data ingestion tool rather than relying on manual (or part-manual) methods.

This is because an automated data ingestion tool will:

• Free up time for your IT team. You can now stop paying expensive contract developers to ingest data for you. Or, if you’ve been doing it in-house, your teams can instead work on innovative new projects, such as bringing new products and services to market.
• Empower your operations to make things scalable. If you need to hire more staff or do things differently to scale data projects, you’ll hamper the ambitions of your business. Automated data tools take off the brakes and let you manage data ingestion (and other data challenges) at scale.
• Improve data quality and reduce errors. Manual solutions will always suffer from inaccuracies and human errors. An automated solution means you can be confident in your data ingestion (and avoid costly mistakes that cost you money and reputation).

There’s no need for your team to lose time working to sort, format, and ingest data in the same way they have been.

If you’re sick of sluggish manual tools and Excel bottlenecking everything you do, it’s time to turn to an automated solution.

Supercharge your IT operations with the right data ingestion tool

Choosing a data integration tool doesn’t have to be difficult. Look for something that boosts productivity, solves for complexity, and embraces time-saving automation.

These are the guiding principles you need to look for.

Crucially, getting it right can make all the difference for your IT department, your wider business processes, and your customers. Don’t all three deserve a modern solution?

If you’d like to learn more about data ingestion, you can explore our other resources here.