Collecting large amounts of data can be useful for making good business decisions, but only if you can turn your metrics into real information.
The seven data management tools in this guide will help you achieve this by removing silos, automating data collection, and improving your data management for better results.
1. Oracle Modern Data Platform
Oracle Modern Data Platform is software for managing on-premises and cloud-based data.
This tool removes silos and helps you make data-driven decisions that improve business processes.
To get the most benefit from Oracle Modern Data Platform, you must connect multiple existing data sources. These may include:
- social media account
- internet-connected devices
- Customer Insights Tools
- Inventory System
After connecting your organization’s datasets to Oracle, you can use the platform’s visualizations, integrations, and machine learning toolkits to better understand your company’s information.
You’ll be able to use Oracle to predict potential anomalies, create accurate business forecasts, and gather other insights of value to stakeholders.
How much does Oracle Modern Data Platform cost?
Oracle Modern Data Platform is part of the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) family. Pricing is based on usage, so you will need to contact the Oracle team to discuss your specific needs and limitations.
2. Informatica
Informatica is a data management solution that uses artificial intelligence to help its users discover new insights into data from various sources.
For example, after you import customer data from your sales system, CRM, and other services, you can use Informatica to identify relationships and dependencies in the data. Once you remove the silos created by different tools, it becomes easier to see connections and group customers based on purchasing habits, location, and more.
However, the platform is not just limited to customer data. You can use it to understand, analyze, and clean up information about business operations, government activity, and even facility usage.
Informatica Platform is a low-code tool that data science professionals or business users can use. The built-in AI engine, called CLAIRE®, enables data processing while reducing the need for custom code.
Claire acts as an AI co-pilot and can help you:
- Find relevant data sets
- Automate data pipelines for better integration
- data quality assessment
- Improve data indexing
- Get a better understanding of data, no matter its format
- Find resources to help with daily tasks
- Reduce manual resource allocation efforts
The company says customers using CLAIRE can search data up to 100 times faster and reduce classification time by up to 50%.
How much does Informatica cost?
You can use Informatica tools for free to extract, transform, and load data (known as the “ETL” process). To unlock advanced Informatica features, you will need a paid plan.
This pricing depends on your needs and level of usage, so you’ll need to call the Informatica team to learn more.
3. Talend
Talend is a low-code data integration and governance solution.
Like Oracle Modern Data Platform, Talend works as an on-premises or cloud-based data management tool. You can also use it in hybrid deployments that span on-premises and cloud servers.
The Talend platform has over 1,000 connectors for popular software systems and data warehouses, including:
- AWS
- Microsoft Azure
- snowflake
- data bricks
- the audience
- salesforce
Talend uses its machine learning engine to review and clean every data point you import. The system then assigns a confidence score to your data, so you can easily understand how reliable the data set can be.
This makes Talend an interesting option for data management in a variety of industries, although the company suggests that its software is particularly suitable for companies focused on:
- finance
- Health care
- retail
- Telecommunication
How much does Talend cost?
Like many other data management companies on this list, Talend does not publish its prices publicly. You will need to contact the company to discuss whether their solution is suitable for your needs.
4. Amazon Redshift
Amazon Redshift is a cloud data storage and unification tool.
Once you connect your source data (pulled from other data warehouses and lakes), Redshift allows you to:
- Work with data using SQL
- Manage data in a serverless environment
- Get real-time updates with streaming data
- Create applications that extract data from different sources
- Incorporate third-party data from AWS Data Exchange
- Explore data analysis without silos
The platform also includes machine learning and artificial intelligence tools. You can use AI to help improve your data processing power and leverage Redshift ML technology to create and train machine learning models.
These models can then help you predict changes, forecast demand, assess risks, and more, all using your data.
How much does Amazon Redshift cost?
Amazon Redshift usage rates can be as low as $0.25 per hour, but your final price may vary because pricing is based on your data computing needs. The Amazon Redshift website includes a calculator to help you estimate your likely costs before signing up to use the platform.
5. Microsoft Fabric
Microsoft Fabric is another AI-powered data management platform.
The tool is based on a data lake that you can fill with information from a variety of sources. This data storage allows you to manipulate and connect large amounts of data while sharing it with everyone else on your team, leading to a reduction in data duplication and movement.
The platform includes access to Microsoft Copilot, a generative artificial intelligence tool. Copilot is useful when you want to:
- Create data visualizations
- Create reports using your data lake
- Write SQL with natural language
- Create custom machine-learning models
Plus, its Fabric data lake integrates directly with Microsoft 365 apps like Word and Teams. It’s a good choice if you want to use your data in spreadsheets, emails, presentations, and other documents with ease.
How much does Microsoft Fabric cost?
Microsoft Fabric offers pay-as-you-go rates starting at $0.36 per hour for two capacity units.
What you can do with a capacity unit varies depending on your needs, so you’ll want to talk to the Fabric team for more information and a custom quote. You can also reduce your rates by paying for units in advance.
6. Collibra
Collibra is an AI-powered data intelligence platform.
You can use the tool and its machine-learning capabilities to help your organization:
- Combine metadata from multiple sources
- Track where your data comes from and how it has been used so far
- Implement data governance guidelines using SQL
- Use automation and workflow management tools to accelerate data classification
- Create and manage policies related to your data management strategy.
Collibra connects to more than 40 databases, including:
- Oracle
- Amazon EMR
- Snowflake
- Azure Kubernetes Service
- Great Google Query
You can also send Collibra data to business intelligence software like Tableau or PowerBI. This makes it easy to turn your data into dashboards, visualizations, and more.
How much does Collibra cost?
The price of Collibra is not public. You will need to request a demo from the Collibra team to see the tool in action and get a quote.
7. Panoply
Panoply is an easy-to-use no-code query builder for data management and analysis.
The platform connects to over 200 different data sources, including:
- Amazon Ads
- Google Search Console
- CRM
- Etleap
- Great Google Query
- Microsoft SQL Server
- WordPress
- zendesk
- Google Sheets
Panoply’s user interface allows you to select the types of data to import and then schedule automatic collection times to stay in sync with each source.
Once you’ve entered data into Panoply, you’ll be able to:
- Turn it into reports
- Create auto-updating dashboards
- Monitoring the results of sales and marketing campaigns.
- Send information to your BI software
- Create data visualizations
- Make projections and forecasts
Because it is a completely no-code tool, Panoply is ideal for situations where the majority of your users will be on the business, rather than the technical, side of your organization.
How much does Panoply cost?
Panoply plans range from $199 to $1,199 per month (billed annually). The price you pay varies depending on the number of data rows, terabytes of storage, and additional features you need. All plans include unlimited user seats.
Conclusion
Once you believe you have the right data management software, you can get even more out of your data with a superior master data management (MDM) tool.
And, to learn more about putting your data to work, check out our complete guide to the big data trends you need to know about.
