If you work in advertising, marketing, or specialize in marketing analytics, it’s likely you’ve heard of data pipelines. But the real question is: do you know what data pipelines are, or if using one is necessary for your campaigns? Let’s break it down.
What are data pipelines, and how do they work?
A data pipeline is a series of processing functions that ingest raw data and send it to the desired destination.
The best way to understand how a data pipeline operates is to compare it to a physical pipe. In order for a pipe to be functional, there must be an input source (e.g.. water well) and a destination (e.g. your faucet).
A data pipeline works in the same way.
Data sources, such as campaign results from advertising platforms, are connected to the pipeline via a database or software application. Raw data then “flows” through the pipeline, integrating with other connected sources along the way to the end destination.
As data travels from the entry point to the destination and merges with other sources, a myriad of processing, filtering, and transformation takes place. This ensures data quality and accuracy, security, and organization for scalable distribution. These processes are subject to individual business use cases.
Finally, what is the endpoint destination for the data within the pipeline? Most commonly, data is delivered to a data warehouse, where it’s stored and accessible to any other desired business intelligence or visualization tools for analysis and annotation.
A Developer-Free Data Pipeline Option
Many companies build their own data pipelines. And with all in-house API architectures, challenges are associated. They require dedicated data engineering and resources. NinjaCat, a unified marketing analytics platform, is an excellent option for marketers, brands, and agencies who simply need to streamline data aggregation and accessibility.
The NinjaCat data pipeline engine is built upon a cloud-based data warehouse, enabling speedy and real-time access, all via a code-free user-friendly interface. We then allow our users to store or produce visualizations with their data (among many other features and functions).
What are the benefits?
- Automated data pulls
- Organized, de-duped datasets
- Access to big data
- Opportunity for better analysis
Simply put, NinjaCat solves a complex problem and helps alleviate manual, time-consuming tasks. What you get is all your data in one place, neatly organized and accessible. Gone are the days of data dumping into overloaded excel sheets, functioning on v-lookups.
To learn more about our Data Pipeline solution for marketers and to understand how it will benefit your workflow, connect with one of our experts!
