ELT vs. ETL: A Mini Guide to Data Synchronization

<p>The differences between ELT and ETL and how to decide which one you need.  ELT and ETL are acronyms for the extract, load, transform/extract, transform, load processes used to move data into a desired target. All organizations are collecting data that often comes from all kinds of different places. For example, your organization might keep track of things in Square, SQL Server, Salesforce, etc., and in order to do anything meaningful with that information, you need to get it all into the same place. ELT and ETL make that possible by pulling/synchronizing the data from each source and either loading…</p>

<div data-elementor-type="wp-post" data-elementor-id="16526" class="elementor elementor-16526" data-elementor-post-type="blog"> <section class="elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-6713b76 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default" data-id="6713b76" data-element_type="section"> <div class="elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default"> <div class="elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-54426b9" data-id="54426b9" data-element_type="column"> <div class="elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated"> <div class="elementor-element elementor-element-66b9eb9 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor" data-id="66b9eb9" data-element_type="widget" data-widget_type="text-editor.default"> <div class="elementor-widget-container"> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The differences between ELT and ETL and how to decide which one you need. </span></p> </div> </div> <div class="elementor-element elementor-element-e920653 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image" data-id="e920653" data-element_type="widget" data-widget_type="image.default"> <div class="elementor-widget-container"> <img decoding="async" src="https://cdn.datalakehouse.org/media/sites/3/Blog-Post-Image-Extract.png" title="" alt="" loading="lazy" /> </div> </div> <div class="elementor-element elementor-element-0a76fa1 elementor-widget elementor-widget-spacer" data-id="0a76fa1" data-element_type="widget" data-widget_type="spacer.default"> <div class="elementor-widget-container"> <div class="elementor-spacer"> <div class="elementor-spacer-inner"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="elementor-element elementor-element-d9825af elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor" data-id="d9825af" data-element_type="widget" data-widget_type="text-editor.default"> <div class="elementor-widget-container"> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">ELT and ETL are acronyms for the extract, load, transform/extract, transform, load processes used to move data into a desired target. All organizations are collecting data that often comes from all kinds of different places. For example, your organization might keep track of things in Square, SQL Server, Salesforce, etc., and in order to do anything meaningful with that information, you need to get it all into the same place. ELT and ETL make that possible by pulling/synchronizing the data from each source and either loading into a cloud-based data warehouse so that it can be transformed by different workloads to uncover various insights, or by transforming it for analyses before loading it into its final destination. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">You can use either process, whether you’re still using an on-premise solution, or you’ve moved on to a cloud-based data warehousing solution where you’re leveraging data in real-time. However, determining the best solution for your business is really a matter of whether all of your data is in a relational and/or structured format, or you have structured, unstructured, and semi-structured data types that you plan to work with. ELT supports structured, unstructured, semi-structured, and raw data types, while traditional ETL has historically struggled with unstructured or semi-structured data, working much easier with a relational or structured data format.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p> </div> </div> <div class="elementor-element elementor-element-0eef8af elementor-widget elementor-widget-image" data-id="0eef8af" data-element_type="widget" data-widget_type="image.default"> <div class="elementor-widget-container"> <img decoding="async" src="https://cdn.datalakehouse.org/media/sites/3/Blog-Post-Graphic-w-Text-Light-Bulb.png" title="" alt="" loading="lazy" /> </div> </div> <div class="elementor-element elementor-element-125eb01 elementor-widget elementor-widget-spacer" data-id="125eb01" data-element_type="widget" data-widget_type="spacer.default"> <div class="elementor-widget-container"> <div class="elementor-spacer"> <div class="elementor-spacer-inner"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="elementor-element elementor-element-d4f2edb elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor" data-id="d4f2edb" data-element_type="widget" data-widget_type="text-editor.default"> <div class="elementor-widget-container"> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Relational data is information that is related to other information through pre-defined relationships and is organized as a set of tables with columns and rows. It can be accessed in many different ways without reorganizing the database tables themselves, making it extremely easy to work with. Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle Database, MySQL and IBM DB2 are all examples of </span><a href="https://aws.amazon.com/relational-database/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">relational databases</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Structured data is usually quantitative information that is logically organized into tables, making it easy to search in relational databases. Some examples of </span><a href="https://learn.g2.com/structured-vs-unstructured-data" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">structured data</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> include names, dates, addresses, credit card numbers, stock information, geolocation, etc. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Unstructured data is mostly qualitative information that is typically more difficult to process, since it must be extracted and categorized before it can be analyzed. Analytics tools with machine learning (like DataLakeHouse) are best for finding insights from unstructured data. A few examples of </span><a href="https://www.netapp.com/data-storage/unstructured-data/what-is-unstructured-data/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">unstructured data</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> include text, video files, audio files, mobile activity, social media posts, satellite imagery, surveillance imagery, business documents, webpages, open-ended survey responses, etc. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Semi-structured data is somewhat organized information that is categorized with meta tags. Although semi-structured data can be grouped, the information within each group is unstructured. Examples of </span><a href="https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/semi-structured-data" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">semi-structured data</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> include emails, CSV, XML, JSON, HTML, RDF, EDI, NoSQL databases, etc.  </span></p> </div> </div> <section class="elementor-section elementor-inner-section elementor-element elementor-element-99e8d15 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default" data-id="99e8d15" data-element_type="section"> <div class="elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default"> <div class="elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-inner-column elementor-element elementor-element-ee724da" data-id="ee724da" data-element_type="column"> <div class="elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated"> <div class="elementor-element elementor-element-d16ca81 elementor-widget elementor-widget-spacer" data-id="d16ca81" data-element_type="widget" data-widget_type="spacer.default"> <div class="elementor-widget-container"> <div class="elementor-spacer"> <div class="elementor-spacer-inner"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="elementor-element elementor-element-85315d0 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading" data-id="85315d0" data-element_type="widget" data-widget_type="heading.default"> <div class="elementor-widget-container"> <h2 class="elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default">What Now? </h2> </div> </div> <div class="elementor-element elementor-element-18a211f elementor-widget elementor-widget-spacer" data-id="18a211f" data-element_type="widget" data-widget_type="spacer.default"> <div class="elementor-widget-container"> <div class="elementor-spacer"> <div class="elementor-spacer-inner"></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-inner-column elementor-element elementor-element-eafaf34" data-id="eafaf34" data-element_type="column"> <div class="elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated"> <div class="elementor-element elementor-element-414f845 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image" data-id="414f845" data-element_type="widget" data-widget_type="image.default"> <div class="elementor-widget-container"> <img decoding="async" src="https://cdn.datalakehouse.org/media/sites/3/Blog-Post-Image-Which-Direction.png" title="" alt="" loading="lazy" /> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </section> <div class="elementor-element elementor-element-4dfb0df elementor-widget elementor-widget-spacer" data-id="4dfb0df" data-element_type="widget" data-widget_type="spacer.default"> <div class="elementor-widget-container"> <div class="elementor-spacer"> <div class="elementor-spacer-inner"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="elementor-element elementor-element-30ac4bf elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor" data-id="30ac4bf" data-element_type="widget" data-widget_type="text-editor.default"> <div class="elementor-widget-container"> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Now that you have a pretty good understanding of the differences between ELT and ETL, you should be able to pretty easily figure out which process is best for your organization. All that’s left to do is select a tool that supports integration from the sources you’re using into the target you’d like to bring them into. As far as targets go, we highly recommend </span><a href="https://trial.snowflake.com/?owner=SPN-PID-126628" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Snowflake</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> for its incredible ability to support multiple workloads without compromising performance or (more importantly) your data.    </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">DataLakeHouse is a 100% Snowflake-focused, advanced end-to-end analytics platform that offers a trifecta of data tools including ELT, industry-specific pre-built Models, and Analytics combined with Machine Learning to offer actionable insights and predictions for extremely effective business decision-making (woah that was a lengthy sentence)!     </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The platform will be launching very soon and will be offering ELT solutions for common data sources. Please take a few moments to subscribe to our newsletter by filling out the form in the footer below and follow us on social media (icons linked to our accounts in the footer as well) to stay up to date with what we’re up to and be first to know when we’re launching. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Want to know more about DataLakeHouse as a solution to your organization’s data and analytics needs? Click below to check out our website 👇</span></p> </div> </div> <div class="elementor-element elementor-element-ec61091 elementor-button-info elementor-align-center elementor-widget elementor-widget-button" data-id="ec61091" data-element_type="widget" data-widget_type="button.default"> <div class="elementor-widget-container"> <div class="elementor-button-wrapper"> <a class="elementor-button elementor-button-link elementor-size-sm" href="https://datalakehouse.io/"> <span class="elementor-button-content-wrapper"> <span class="elementor-button-text">Check Us Out</span> </span> </a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </section> </div>