There’s an age-old-adage that goes something like, “there’s more than one way to wrap a present.” You may have heard it before, or maybe a variation of the phrase, but the point is that there’s very rarely a single-way to do anything. This is a little bit of a testament to human ingenuity, innovation, and creativity. As a species, we’re constantly discovering and uncovering new ways of doing things, and new things to do, too. Even when it comes to data analytics, there’s not necessarily a single-best-way to perform data analytics. In the modern economy most competitive organizations have designed some sort of data stack. In other words, a series of systems, programs, and softwares that handles the collection, distribution, analysis, and visualization of consumer data. However, the modern data stack doesn’t always look exactly the same from organization to organization.
Despite the design of the data stack itself, there is one component that is an absolute critical element in almost any modern data stack. That is reverse ETL. ETL stands for extract, transform, load. These are terms referring to the journey consumer-data takes from its source point, to the data-warehouse.
ETL has been around since the 1970’s and came about as a solution aimed at breaking down data silos. The idea is that the various consumer touch points that resulted in data-collection would all be funneled into a centralized database or data-warehouse. Here, that data could be made operational through SQL, data-analytics, and data-engineers. The main issue here, though, is that while this created a single centralized data-location, it remained a gated space.
Non-technical employees who aren’t trained and fluent in SQL have to rely on data engineers to communicate with the warehouse and pull the various queries needed. This gave rise to reverse ETL technology.
Reverse ETL technology operates in the opposite way that ETL technology does. In other words, reverse ETL takes the important consumer insights housed in your data warehouse and distributes them across the company’s whole suite of SaaS tools aimed at growth, sales, marketing, and development. How organizations build reverse ETL into their data-stack, though, is really up to them.
Build It Yourself
One of the first, and most appealing options, for organizations to choose when it comes to implementing a reverse ETL technology into the data-stack is to build it in-house. Now, this option should raise some immediate points in your mind. First and foremost, it isn’t an inexpensive process to build the reverse ETL into your data-stack in-house. This requires a firm that already has access to data-engineering talent, funding, and the other resources required for a large-scale development project such as this. However, all of that said, there are some major benefits to building a reverse ETL process in-house. The most obvious and notable being that it allows for supreme customization. If your business is one that thrives on doing things their own way, then developing the reverse ETL processes in-house may just be the way to go.
However, for smaller firms, startup organizations, and even mid-size companies, it may be easier, simpler, and more cost-effective to purchase an enterprise reverse ETL solution.
Buy An Enterprise Software
Another, and much more popular option, when it comes to reverse ETL integrations is to simply purchase the required software from a service provider. This takes reinventing the wheel out of your hands, and allows for a quick and easy launch.
By taking the enterprise software route, you’ll be able to start making use of reverse ETL solutions almost immediately. This way, you can start optimizing campaigns and connecting with consumers on a deeper, more personal level.
Implementing Reverse ETL To Empower Teams
The real purpose behind reverse ETL is to empower the various teams that populate your business empire. Rather than relying on SQL fluent data-engineers to pull queries that become out-dated and unhelpful in the day-to-day decision making of marketing and advertising professionals, reverse ETL allows for real-time insights to be immediately available to the professionals who need them most.
By implementing a reverse ETL strategy, all of your employees will be more informed, empowered, and better able to perform at a high-level.
The Importance Of Reverse ETL In The Modern Economy
There’s no doubting the value of consumer data in today’s modern society that’s run by technology and information. By failing to make use of reverse ETL technology, you’re actively losing out on powerful and important consumer insights that could revolutionize your business.
To remain competitive in today’s economy organizations need to optimize and operationalize their consumer data. This can all be done with the help of reverse ETL. If you haven’t already begun investing in your company’s data stack design and technology, now is the time. You don’t want to get left behind in the wake of your competitors who saw the value in reverse ETL technology before you did.
