What is data ingestion?
Data ingestion is the process of importing large, assorted data files from multiple sources into a single, cloud-based storage medium—a data warehouse, data mart or database—where it can be accessed and analyzed. As data may be in multiple different forms and come from hundreds of sources, it is sanitized and transformed into a uniform format using an extract/transform/load (ETL) process.
What are the business benefits of data ingestion?
An effective data ingestion process provides multiple business benefits, including:
- Data availability across the enterprise, among various departments and functional areas with disparate data-centric needs.
- A simplified process of collecting and cleansing data imported from hundreds of sources, with dozens of types and schemas, into a single, consistent format.
- The ability to handle voluminous data at high speed, in real-time batches, as well as cleanse and/or add timestamps during the ingestion process.
- Decreased costs and time-savings over manual data aggregation processes—especially if the solution is an as-a-service model.
- The ability for even a small business to collect and analyze larger data volumes and easily manage data spikes.
- Cloud-based storage for large data volumes in raw form, help ensure easy access to it when needed.
