With the introduction of digitization in every aspect of our lives, businesses are no exception to that! As more businesses shift towards digitization, data has become an important part of the success graph. To utilize the data for growth and development, it must first be collected and formatted so that it becomes fit for analysis. As there are millions of data across the internet. And getting it done manually can be a daunting task. It is here that data extraction comes into the picture. It is the steppingstone of your journey from data to getting insights. WebDataGuru has expertise in doing custom data extraction for all kinds of industries across the globe.

In today’s blog, we will address the power of custom data extraction in detail and understand how it can be helpful in your business.

Let us begin.

Now, businesses can extract the required information from the web with custom data extraction so that the analysis becomes easier and streamlined. The success of the data extraction process depends on various factors such as data sources, the accuracy of the extracted data, and the extraction method.

What is Data Extraction?

Data extraction is a process of collecting data from various sources followed by formatting it and storing it in another system for analysis. Data is collected from various sources such as web pages, emails, PDFs, RDBMS, flat files, documents, scanner text, and much more. The data on the web can be structured or unstructured. It can be challenging to collect unstructured data such as images, web pages, free-form text, etc.

There are special software in the market which can help a business meet their custom data extraction needs in a cost-effective manner.

What is the Need for Data Extraction?

Data extraction is an important part of any business as the raw data when transformed into insights can enable a business to gain a competitive edge over others.

A successful data task must get the data part of the project accurate as faulty data can lead to inaccurate results irrespective of the data modeling techniques. Web content extraction helps with shaping raw and scattered data into a definite and useful format for analysis. Analytics and business intelligence tools help in understanding the data and drawing insights from them. Without a suitable data extraction tool, the information on the social media pages, web pages, video content, etc will remain inaccessible for any analysis. In today’s competitive era, data gained from the web can be utilized for getting an edge over the competitors through churn analysis, sentimental analysis, and gauging user preferences. Data extraction must be fine-tuned for optimizing the chances of achieving a favorable outcome.

What is Data Extraction in ETL?

A central data store such as a cloud warehouse gathers and stores information from data sources with the ETL – Extract, Transform, and Load process. Custom data extraction is the first step in the ETL process.

1. Extracting

As the name suggests, it is the process of extracting data from various sources like webhooks or APIs and storing it in files or databases. The extraction is done in an automated manner. The best part is that you can get it done in the background and without any kind of difficulty.

2. Transforming

Once the data is collected, it needs to be transformed into a format that is suitable for analysis. For example, data collected can be in the formats of XML, dox, videos, images, emails or any such formats. And that can be very chaotic to filter through. So, during this stage, you can get everything transformed into a format that can be simpler. Basically, it is the process of transforming the data into a format which is suitable for analytics and reporting in a comprehensive way. The data is enriched and validated as well as business rules are applied for maintaining consistency across the data fields. WebDataGuru provides the best platform for this.

3. Loading

Now, comes the last stage. Here comes the process of loading transformed and high-quality data into the target data store such as a data warehouse for making it available to the stakeholders in order to analyze and report.

Irrespective of the industry or size of the organization, every company uses the ETL approach for the integration of sales, marketing, customer service application, data services, and unstructured files. A business can get excellent insights with a well-engineered ETL pipeline and robust data extraction process. It also ensures the completeness of the information and enables the stakeholders in making the right decisions owing to clear information and preventing confusion from infinite data.

Benefits of Data extraction

1. Better Decision Making

Data extraction helps in the decision-making process. Let us tell you how. If you run a business, you have decisions to make on every level. Data extraction helps in proving what’s best for your business. You can get in-depth analysis for marketing campaigns, product launches, market penetration and much more with the help of data extraction. Getting to the bottom of the funnel is important for every management. And those things impact the strategic decisions you make.

2. Less Need of Supervision

Anybody can do custom data extraction. You do not need a separate team for the same. Data extraction software allows you to conduct your operations and everything else will be done in an automated manner. So, that you can focus on your business. Moreover, manually extracting data is a very tedious task. And with the help of automated data extraction, you can get it done in very less time.

3. No room for Errors

Manual data extraction causes many errors. Whereas, with automated custom web crawler you can rest assured of error-free data and analysis. You can get a better perspective regarding data extraction.

4. In-depth Analysis

The analysis is the crux of it all. As businesses can extract all the data, they want but getting a basic analysis and comprehensive understanding is the most important aspect. With custom web data extraction, you can get analysis that helps decipher the biggest codes of data and give you the best results in less time.

Challenges of Data Extraction

Though custom data extraction is an essential step toward data analysis, it comes with some challenges.

1. Data Volume Management

The data architecture is designed for managing specific data volumes. If the data extraction process is created for small volumes of data, it won’t be able to function accurately while dealing with larger data. When it happens, parallel extraction solutions might be required. However, they can also be tough to engineer as well as maintain.

2. Data Source Constraints

The data sources and extractable fields vary significantly. Hence, it is essential to consider the limitation of data sources while extracting the data. Some data sources such as APIs or webhooks can have restrictions regarding how much data can be extracted at once.

3. Data Validation

Data validation takes place at the extraction or transformation stage. If it is performed during the extraction stage, you must look for any corrupted or missing data like nonsensical values or empty fields.

4. Intensive Data Monitoring

To make sure that the data extraction system works properly, it is essential to monitor the data on various levels such as resource allocation, error detection, and reliability.

Data Extraction Techniques

There are mainly two ways of data extraction namely- physical extraction and logical extraction. Both methods consist of crawling and retrieving the data, but the method of data collection and processing is different.

1. Logical Extraction

It consists of extracting the data from a database or structured data source in such a way that the integrity of the data is maintained. It uses a database management system’s query language for extracting the data in a structured way so that it can be imported to another system or database easily.

The extracted data will retain the constraints and relationships which are defined in the source system’s schema. It ensures the accuracy and consistency of the data.

There are three types of logical extraction such as full extraction, source-driven extraction, and incremental extraction.

2. Physical Extraction

It consists of copying raw data from the storage device with no regard to the relationship between data elements. There are two types of physical extraction namely online extraction and offline extraction.

Online extraction is the process where data is directly collected from a live system while it is still in operation. On the other hand, offline extraction is the process of extracting data from a system which is not currently operational.

Data extraction tools can make custom data extraction easy offering greater control and easy compliance in a cost-effective manner as compared to manual data extraction. The right tool can be chosen based on the specific needs of the business.

Claim the Power of Custom Data extraction Today!

Building a business that thrives and stays ahead of the competition is what every company wants. The bottom line is you need to invest in the best platforms to reap the benefits. It is after all about the ROI. Get the best and most cost-effective tools from us. Your search for the best data extraction company ends here. Don’t just crawl but leap ahead with us. Reach us to know more!