Data Automation: What It Is and Why It’s Important

Businesses always look for ways to make everyday tasks easier and more efficient to serve their customers better, increase output, and boost profits. Much of these efforts result in an avalanche of data. While this data can be useful, companies must find the means to process, analyze, and utilize it quickly to take full advantage of it. This is where data automation comes in. It enables companies to manage data faster, making it easier for them to make better business decisions and increase productivity. 

What Is Data Automation?

Data automation is the process of using technology to perform repetitive activities within the data life cycle, including data collection, processing, integration, and analysis, without human intervention. It eliminates manual effort and allows any organization to efficiently work with data, giving businesses time to focus on actionable insights. For example, you could automatically collect sales data from an e-commerce platform, then process and integrate it into a real-time dashboard for business analysis without human effort. 

Why Is Data Automation Important?

Data automation plays an important role in making data operations quicker, more reliable, and scalable. There are a variety of reasons why data automation is so important in making an organization competitive. 

• Automation frees businesses from routine tasks and reduces collection and processing time, relieving resources and freeing up teams for higher-order work.
• Automation cuts down on human errors in data processing by ensuring that operations are consistent.
• As data volume increases, manual processing is no longer necessary, enabling businesses to scale operations without adding more resources.
• Automation can save money by reducing the time and manpower used for handling data.

Key Components of Data Automation

To understand how data automation works, you need to know and understand the components involved: data collection, processing, integration, analysis, and visualization. All help make sure data flows smoothly. 

Collection 

Data collection is the first step. It involves pulling information from different sources, including APIs, databases, web applications, IoT devices, social media feeds, and even manual entries. Automating this process ensures that data collection happens on time and without duplication or loss. 

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Processing 

After you collect raw data, you'll need to treat and refine it before you can extract meaningful insights. Common procedures include merging similar records, interpolation of missing records, and changing the data format. 

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Integration 

You must transfer the information you acquire to different organizational systems, including customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and data warehouses. Data integration via automation ensures that all systems interface well, utilizing the same version of the data, to avoid inconsistencies. 

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Analysis 

The next step is analysis. Using algorithms and machine learning, you can analyze vast amounts of data faster than any human can. Tools for automated analysis exposit trends, patterns, and intelligence, usually off the books. All these actions can incorporate predictive analytics, anomaly detection, etc. 

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Visualization 

Analytical tools create charts, graphs, and dashboards that enhance the ability of the user to understand the data. Automation helps aggregate such effects at a higher level and provides these visualizations in real time. 

Benefits of Data Automation

Data automation provides several advantages, especially regarding time, quality, and expense management. 

• Helps increase the flow of data so businesses can make data-oriented decisions faster.
• Frees employees from repetitive data-handling tasks.
• Reduces data entry errors and guarantees consistent quality.
• Eliminates the need for manpower and reduces costs.
• Helps businesses continuously update their data and work with the most recent.

Data Automation Tools

There are several categories of tools you can use to automate data, each of them aimed at solving some steps in the data life cycle. 

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) 

RPA tools replicate the actions of a human in engaging with systems, including data input or retrieval. These tools are most effective when you apply them to routine, predictable work that doesn't involve a lot of human decision-making. 

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Data Integration Platforms 

Data integration platforms collect data from different sources and store it in a single accessible place. ETL tools are good for extracting, transforming, and loading them efficiently. 

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Data Analytics Software 

Automated analysis uses statistical tools and machine learning algorithms to discover patterns, variations, and trends in data. They help companies generate insights without having to conduct calculations manually. 

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Business Intelligence (BI) Tools 

BI tools take raw data and use it to create dashboards and reports. 

Implementing Data Automation

Implementing data automation is complicated, so you need a systematic approach. 

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Identifying Opportunities 

Begin by analyzing your current processes to determine where their automation will be most beneficial. They include data acquisition, report preparation, and other simple analysis tasks. 

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Choosing the Right Tools 

A solid automation plan requires the right tools. The needs of every organization depend on the complexity of data and existing systems. 

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Developing an Automation Strategy 

Identify which processes should be automated to achieve specific objectives, and define your evaluation criteria. 

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Testing and Deployment 

Start with a trial run to sus out any compatibility problems, and make sure the tools you intend to use are compatible with your other systems. 

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Monitoring and Maintenance 

Automation systems require constant supervision to make sure they're still working efficiently. This may therefore require frequent updates and adjustments. 

Challenges and How to Overcome Them

Here are some common obstacles and ways to overcome them. 

1. Integrating data from different systems may be difficult. Organizations can use advanced data integration tools to eliminate data silos and consolidate datasets.
2. Automating is highly complex. That's why it's crucial to use tools intended for processing various data formats.
3. Automation is less expensive in the long run but may require large up-front capital investments. Automate high-impact areas first to achieve better and earlier ROI.
4. Resistance to new technology can slow automation efforts. Provide proper training and illustrate the advantages to reduce resistance.

Best Practices for Data Automation

To successfully automate your organization's processes and achieve long-term success, observe the following best practices: 

• Start with automating basic processes and then move to more complicated ones.
• Set data management rules to protect privacy and maintain compliance.
• Regularly make sure your tools perform optimally and achieve the expected outcomes.
• Update your automation tools to benefit from the new features and compatibility with new systems and technologies.

Conclusion

Data automation is fast becoming the new norm for managing, processing, and analyzing data. Automating data workflows helps organizations work faster and cheaper and make better decisions. For a business to remain relevant and competitive in today’s world, it must invest in data automation and ensure that it's constantly improving. 

Acceldata's Role in Data Automation

Acceldata is a data observability platform that helps companies seamlessly operate their data with intuitive, high-power data automation tools. It makes data integration easy and more accurate, automates routine processes to save company time, reduces the chances of errors, and makes it easier to make informed business decisions. With Acceldata, you can keep your data in full flow and at your fingertips whenever you need it.

To learn more about how data automation could elevate your business and how Acceldata can help you reach those goals, please visit Acceldata or contact them for a consultation.

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This post was written by Ekekenta Odionyenfe Clinton. Ekekenta is a Software engineer and technical writer, proficient in React, Node.js, Python and Database management system. He is a passionate open source contributor and mentor.