Handling a company’s data involves many tasks and people. The more data a company collects in different systems, the more critical it is to have a good management plan to get the most out of the data and make intelligent business decisions.
According to Statista, the amount of data stored is expected to grow by around 20% each year for the next three years. Due to this enormous increase in data, it's important to have a strong system in place to manage it.
Whether you handle data within your organization or use an external service, technology can do many tasks automatically, reducing the risk of errors. It also ensures that data is accurate, accessible, and secure.
To manage data well, companies must focus on choosing the right data migration technologies to deal with processing, storing, governing, formatting, and analyzing the data.
In this article, we'll talk about the types of data tools, the top three features of the best data migration software, how to choose between free and paid options, and tips for evaluating data migration tools.
Basic Types of Data Migration Software
Data migration software comes in different types, depending on what they do and how much they automate.
ETL (extract, transform, and load) software is often used for integrating data, setting up data warehouses, and business intelligence. They can process large amounts of structured and semi-structured data but aren't necessarily suitable for unstructured or complex data.
Data replication tools simply copy data from one system to another without changing anything. They're useful for backing up data, preparing for disasters, and ensuring data is always available.
Data conversion tools switch data from one format to another, e.g., from CSV to XML or Oracle to MySQL. They are good with various data formats but may have difficulties with complex transformations or mappings.
Data quality tools check, monitor, and improve data quality before, during, and after moving it. They're crucial for projects where duplicates are removed and data is cleansed, standardized, enriched, or validated. These tools take care of accuracy, completeness, consistency, timeliness, and relevance but don't help with extracting or loading data.
Choosing Between Free and Paid Data Migration Software
What are the exact expectations, results, and risks of these two options? Does a free tool cover as much as a paid one to ensure maximum data transfer as desired?
While you can save money with free data migration software, it will probably not be a complete solution to cover the data how you want.
The key is choosing a data migration tool provider that suits your business needs better. Often, we only look at the superficial details that a software tool offers, overlooking crucial information like data restrictions, user rights allocation, and additional hardware or software costs such as servers and storage space. A rushed migration can lead to unforeseen costs that were not budgeted for.
Consider the benefits and risks of migration. If you decide to migrate solely based on cost, this can have consequences once the move is complete. There may be issues like half-moved data, duplicate data, missing contacts and calendar entries, and incorrectly converted emails and files. If your source data gets deleted before or after the migration, this can lead to further problems, potential losses, and project delays. A comprehensive data migration software provider offers better value for your IT investment and gives you peace of mind without data risks.
Selecting the right, fully automated data migration software like Hopp ensures a successful and smooth migration experience. This results in less hassle, going back live more quickly, cost savings, and a good return on investment.
Hopp's data migration software reacts quickly and effectively to changing data migration needs or unexpected events. It consists of three components, each designed to handle a specific aspect of the migration process. The Studio handles data mapping to create business objects and apply rules and validation criteria. The Core automatically generates rules and migration code based on the Studio’s mapping. The Portal enables collaboration, deployment, and execution of the data migration process.
What to Consider When Choosing a Data Migration Tool
Picking the best data migration software for your project depends on a few factors:
- the size and complexity of your data;
- the systems you want to move to and from;
- the budget and timeline of your project.
You need to consider how much data you're moving, how complicated it is, and how often it changes. The tool should also support the types, formats, and structures of your data.
Check if the systems you're moving data between get along well and make sure they can handle the scale and growth of the job. The budget and timeline of your project play a big part in selecting the right migration software.
Also, consider the skills and availability of your data migration team—it depends on how they'll use the tool. If you're on a tight budget or schedule, a tool that automates and simplifies the process is perfect. However, if your team is skilled, a tool you can customize yourself may be better.
Three Key Capabilities of Best Data Migration Software
Efficient data management is crucial for a company's success in today's digital landscape. It's not just about providing users with smooth and secure access to the data they need. It’s also about implementing policies that ensure data is handled appropriately throughout its lifecycle. In this context, three key components ensure your software provides an efficient environment for data migration.
Optimized Data Access
Enterprise data management aims to facilitate seamless and secure access to required data, regardless of its physical location. It goes beyond mere accessibility by incorporating policy-based contextual awareness. This means managing data throughout its lifecycle and ensuring that irrelevant data is not stored unnecessarily. By optimizing data access, businesses can increase their efficiency and prevent the accumulation of redundant or outdated information.
Visibility of Data
A crucial aspect of effective data management is the global visibility and control of data, regardless of the application or storage location. This ensures that data remains visible, whether stored in-house or linked to a cloud-based application. In addition, it's important to have clarity on data access and ownership to control the risks associated with data usage. Companies benefit from knowing exactly who can access the data and who owns it.
Longevity of Services
Enterprises must prioritize the protection and availability of data. This includes building a resilient end-to-end service infrastructure across diverse landscapes. This resilience ensures that the infrastructure can recover quickly from any service disruption, guaranteeing the continuous availability of critical data. By prioritizing service durability, companies protect themselves from potential data loss or downtime, contributing to the overall reliability of their operations.
How to Evaluate Data Migration Software
Once you have identified the factors that impact your choice of data migration software, the next step is to evaluate the available tools according to their features, benefits, and drawbacks. You should weigh up criteria such as functionality, ease of use, scalability, and security. Check what tasks the tool can do and how well it does them in terms of functionality.
User-friendliness is about the user interface, documentation, support, and training options. Scalability is about how well the tool can handle growing data, changes, and system performance. Security is about encryption, authentication, authorization, auditing capabilities, and compliance with data protection regulations.