Untitled firm is frequently asked, “does my business need a data pipeline?” We believe that to be a loaded question. The answer is yes, however, the data pipeline being implemented will vary greatly from a small business, to an enterprise scale solution. In this post, you’ll learn what a data pipeline is, and why a data pipeline should be implemented in your business.
What Is A Data Pipeline?
A data pipeline is essentially a streamlined flow of information through your business. They provide control over the various data sources you may be leveraging to run your business and allow for a seamless circulation of that data into one location.
For those who want a more practical description, lets use an example of an e-commerce company who we would prescribe a data pipeline to.
An ecommerce company that does $1MM+ in revenue a year will typically have these data sources at their disposal:
- An accounting software
- Online store data, whether that be something like Shopify or WooCommerce
- Secondary or Tertiary sales channels such as an Amazon Seller store, and retail / wholesale verticals
- Google analytics from their website
- Various ad-platforms such as Google Ads and Facebook Ads
- A shipping logistics software
- An inventory management software / supply chain solution software
- A CRM (we hope, if not, we can help)
- A sales tracking solution (small companies could be just using a spreadsheet for this, larger companies might be on something like Salesforce)
For a company that is doing a million or more in sales, this is a conservative estimate of the amount of data sources they have under the helm of their organization. The problem is that rapidly scaling companies simply don’t have the time or resources to navigate from one solution and interface to another.
However, they must have all of these systems in place to continue to scale and be successful, and could absolutely seize more value from parsing out and leveraging the data captured in each of these systems.
Why Should I Have A Data Pipeline?
With that said, this is a perfect recipe for implementing a data pipeline solution to streamline the flow of all of these data sources into one data warehouse, and then visualize all of this information into a singular data analytics solution such as PowerBI or Tableau. The reason being is that there is a lot of data to be cross-walked amongst these solutions, that can ultimately provide the necessary information to avoid things like cash flow issues, stock outs or surplus inventory crunches, minimize wasted marketing spend or measure the efficacy or marketing channels, and measure performance and market penetration both geographically and online.
Having control over these data sources and systems can be the difference of a business growing 10% year-over-year and 100%+ year-over-year.
In Summary
Data pipelines do not need to be a complicated affair, custom, or overly extensive in time for implementation. Although each organization will very with the amount a time and resources required to build a data pipeline, the project in most cases will take approximately 90-120 days to fully implement, with a very affordable and palpable development cost.
If you believe your business is ready for a data pipeline, and would like a free initial consultation from an Untitled data pipeline consultant, please reach out to us through the contact form. Our data analytics team would love to assist you in implementing a solution that gives you control and visibility into your data sources, and empowers you with the greatest amount of leverage over these systems to maximize ROI and impact for your organization.
