The new frontier of data management is not really centered on the collection or even the analyzing of data, but on access, consolidation, and sharing—and making that data (even if it’s from two seemingly disparate, unrelated data sources) actionable.

For example, it’s one thing to pull data from Salesforce to understand how much revenue you stand to make from a recent deal, but it’s another thing to merge that data with Concur to understand what you’ve spent in travel to win it.

This integration of data points, otherwise known as joined data sets, provides insight that is otherwise unknowable.

Of course, most companies have myriad data sources—everything from Amazon Web Services to Zendesk, on-premise databases, spreadsheets, flat files, and more. And many of these sources have APIs for data access.

Maintaining all those connections is a monumental investment for tech leaders, and stretches IT staffs that are often already too thin. So, what’s the answer?

Data Integration, Simplified Services

There is no shortage of “solutions” today to help business users build data dashboards. But most only go halfway, as they only allow users to visualize the data, versus providing access to different data sets and types.

The best data solutions have pre-built connectors that automatically pull data from hundreds of sources (no manual work required) and let business users pull from one or a dozen sources of data.

Having a direct connection into the data source eliminates the need to manually export data to a huge, static Excel spreadsheet, then pull it back out into a usable format.

While APIs are a big enabler of this, in that they allow data to flow in and out, individuals don’t have to know anything about APIs or other underlying plumbing. It’s point-and-click, drag-and-drop.

Kent Kramer, the president and CEO of Goodwill Industries in Indiana, knows this firsthand.

“It’s very difficult when you need data from various operating areas,” said Kent, who uses Domo to quickly aggregate and analyze data from various sources.

When the nonprofit wanted to study 52-week performance data in its stores, it envisioned having to pull 52 sales reports and 52 production reports, combining them in Excel, and exporting into a chart—a task for which it allocated one week.

Instead, the real-time data was pulled directly from the source and pulled into a visual—in less than a day.

Domo has more than 1,000 pre-built connectors into the apps, services, and file types you use every day. Click here to see how they can work for your business.