Informatica Data Quality

There is no doubt that data quality and data integration are intrinsically symbiotic activities, but where does one end and the other begin? Is data quality just part of data integration? Are they separate but linked or one in the same? Some industry observers are convinced that data quality is purely a component of data integration, and that it only makes sense to deploy data quality as an integral part of the data integration process.

As head of Similarity Systems, a company that provided pure data quality solutions prior to its acquisition by Informatica, I would have disagreed strongly with this point of view. For me data quality and data integration were linked but separate disciplines. Data quality technology is required in many different parts of an organization and is often controlled by different owners than those who require data integration.
Similarity Systems’ customers were also divided on this. For some “fit” with their data integration vendor’s solution was the primary selection criteria. Their whole data quality implementation approach revolved around the philosophy that “we must cleanse as we integrate” Other data quality customers, however, were completely disinterested in data integration; they saw data quality as an end in its own right. Their approach was “I have the data – help me make it good.”

Since becoming part of Informatica –The Data Integration Company™– I’ve had cause to review my thinking. In some ways the picture hasn’t changed much. In the past year I’ve seen a large number of Informatica’s data integration customers adopt our data quality products specifically to plug them into their data integration infrastructure. But there are still a significant number that have implemented data quality initiatives that are completely separate.

What has surprised me is that we are also seeing rapid growth of another type of data quality implementation – large organizations deploying enterprise wide data quality initiatives that leverage data integration technology as part of the data quality solution (rather than the other way round). Data Quality initiatives are getting bigger, becoming more deeply embedded in operational systems and processes. To deliver these high performance, multi-system, cross-department data quality programs, robust data integration technology is often a vital component.

So I still disagree with experts who say that data quality is only useful as a component of data integration infrastructure – but it is clear to me that data integration is increasingly deployed as a component of large scale data quality programs.

For more information on data quality and data integration see the Informatica white paper: Addressing Data Quality at the Enterprise Level.