Is Your Small Business Facing These Top Challenges in Data Integration?

Most entrepreneurs today would agree that data is a crucial asset in their business. They all want more of it, so they can dive deeper into customer insights, predictive analytics, trend analyses, and more.

Without even realizing it, we end up drowning in data. We hoard so much of it that if becomes impossible to leverage it. This is where data integration comes into play. 

Data integration is essential for businesses looking to streamline operations, improve decision-making, and drive growth. As companies accumulate data from multiple sources — CRM systems, marketing platforms, eCommerce systems, and more — integrating these datasets becomes critical for efficient workflows and actionable insights. 

However, data integration comes with its own set of challenges, particularly for small businesses that often operate with limited resources.

In this article, we’ll explore the top challenges in data integration, especially for small businesses, and how these challenges can be overcome. We will also discuss how affordable solutions, like SyncApps, can help companies integrate data more effectively without breaking the bank.

Ready? Let’s dive in!

The State of the Data Integration Industry

In 2023, businesses across all industries experienced a significant increase in their data integration needs. 

The data integration market size is expected to reach $12.05 billion in 2024 and grow at a CAGR of 9.20% to reach $18.71 billion by 2029 This trend reflects the increasing reliance on data to drive business operations and decisions.

However, small businesses face unique challenges when it comes to integrating data. 80% of large enterprises have implemented data integration solutions. Small businesses are nowhere near that number, yet most of them recognize that data integration can reduce churn by over 50%. 

This gap is largely due to concerns about the cost, complexity, and technical expertise required for effective integration.

Moreover, industries that rely heavily on data, such as retail, manufacturing, healthcare, and financial services, are leading the charge in adopting data analytics and data integration solutions. Small businesses in these sectors are increasingly recognizing the value of data integration to improve customer experience, streamline operations, and enhance decision-making.

If they recognize its importance, what’s keeping them from adopting data integration? Let’s find out!

Top Challenges in Data Integration for Small Businesses

There are countless barriers to implementing data integration in a small business. We’ll take a look at the most common challenges, along with their solutions and provide you with a homemade approach to them (homemade = from the SyncApps kitchen)

Data Silos and Fragmentation

One of the biggest challenges in data integration is the prevalence of data silos. In many businesses, different departments use separate systems that don’t communicate with each other. This fragmentation makes it difficult to get a unified view of business operations.

The Impact of Data Silos

Three out of four companies say that their data silos hinder internal collaboration. These silos lead to inefficiencies, as data must be manually transferred between systems, increasing the likelihood of errors and missing information.

How SyncApps Solves Data Silos

At SyncApps, we offer a simple yet effective way for small businesses to integrate their systems and eliminate silos. With pre-built connectors for popular platforms like Salesforce, NetSuite, Mailchimp, and more, SyncApps allows small businesses to sync data automatically between systems, ensuring that all departments have access to the same data in real time.

You can save valuable time (up to dozens of hours per week!) and resources by automating this process. For example, if a small retail business uses separate systems for customer relationship management (CRM) and email marketing, SyncApps can integrate these systems to provide a holistic view of customer data, sales trends, and inventory levels. 

This not only reduces manual data entry but also allows for better decision-making based on comprehensive insights.

Explore data integrations on SyncApps here.

Budget Constraints: the Top Data Integration Challenge for SMEs

Small businesses often hesitate to adopt data integration solutions due to concerns about cost.
For small businesses, operating on tight budgets can make investing in data integration seem like a luxury. However, with the right tools, data integration does not have to be prohibitively expensive.

The Impact of Budget Constraints

Data integration has an average ROI of 33%. And that is for large enterprises that invest in bloated solutions that are usually overpriced. We can do better than this!

In other words, without data integration, you’re leaving money on the table. It may not be free but it’s something that can generate a lot of revenue for your SME.

The Solution: Affordable Data Integration with SyncApps

At SyncApps, we have set out to democratize data integration. We know it doesn’t need to have a prohibited cost, so we made sure that our platform is affordable for everyone, including small businesses and nonprofits.

We offer a cost-effective solution for small businesses that need to integrate their data but are working with limited budgets. Unlike other platforms that require significant upfront investments, SyncApps provides a scalable, pay-as-you-go model, making it affordable for companies of all sizes. 

Whether you’re looking to integrate your CRM with marketing automation or sync marketing automation data with accounting software, SyncApps provides a budget-friendly alternative.

Explore affordable, yet powerful data integration solutions here!

Data Security and Compliance — a Top Data Integration Challenge

51% of small businesses have no data security policy in place. To add insult to injury, most of them think that data integration comes with an additional layer of security risks. 

To add to this cake, the need to comply with regulations like GDPR and HIPAA adds yet another layer of complexity to data integration efforts.

SyncApps: A Secure Data Integration Solution

SyncApps prioritizes data security, ensuring that all data transfers between systems are encrypted and comply with industry standards like GDPR and HIPAA. 

This is critical for small businesses handling sensitive customer or financial data, as a breach could result in severe penalties or loss of customer trust. With SyncApps, small businesses can integrate their systems confidently, knowing that their data is secure.

Moreover, SyncApps includes advanced security measures like two-factor authentication and regular security audits to ensure that all integrations are safe from cyber threats. We know that you’re worried about the security of your data when it comes to integration.

So we made sure this is no longer a concern for you. 

Limited IT Resources and Technical Expertise

Small businesses often lack the internal IT resources and technical expertise required to manage complex data integration projects. In fact, 59% of small businesses report that they do not have a dedicated IT department to handle technical challenges.

Without IT specialists on staff, small businesses may struggle to implement and maintain data integration solutions. This can lead to disruptions in business processes, particularly if the systems being integrated are mission-critical.

No-Code Data Integration with SyncApps

We address this data integration challenge by offering a no-code integration platform that requires no technical expertise to set up or manage. Small businesses can easily connect their CRM, eCommerce, marketing, and financial systems without needing to hire an IT specialist. 

SyncApps user-friendly interface, drag-and-drop system, and pre-built integrations make it accessible to businesses with limited resources.

For example, a small nonprofit organization can use SyncApps to integrate their donor management system like Salesforce NPSP with their email marketing platform. This allows them to automate fundraising campaigns and track donor interactions without requiring any technical skills or additional IT staff.

Plus, if you ever run into any trouble, on SyncApps you have access to 24/7 support with real humans. On all plans, including for onboarding consultations.

Join the small-business-friendly data integration platform here!

Managing Real-Time Data

Real-time data integration is essential for businesses that rely on up-to-date information for decision-making. However, many small businesses struggle with this due to the complexity of syncing data in real time across multiple systems. 

A lot of the Salesforce integration solutions for small businesses do not offer real-time sync. This means that you will miss out on a lot of sales opportunities that need a quick response. Remember that customers today expect near-instant replies and assistance. 

For small businesses, delayed or inaccurate data can result in missed opportunities or poor decision-making. Whether it’s a sales team working with outdated customer information or a marketing team relying on stale campaign data, the consequences of not having real-time data can be significant.

SyncApps Real-Time Data Sync

SyncApps offers real-time data synchronization, ensuring that information across all integrated systems is always up-to-date. This capability is particularly important for small businesses looking to automate processes like order fulfillment, customer support, or marketing campaigns. 

Real-time sync reduces the need for manual data entry and ensures that businesses can respond to changing conditions quickly.

For instance, a small manufacturing business using SyncApps can integrate their eCommerce platform with their inventory management system in real-time, ensuring that inventory levels are automatically updated after every sale. This eliminates the need for manual updates and allows the business to maintain accurate stock levels at all times.

Vendor Lock-In and Scalability

Vendor lock-in is another key challenge small businesses face when integrating their systems. Many businesses find themselves dependent on a specific vendor, making it difficult to switch platforms or integrate with other systems as their needs evolve. This is a significant issue for companies looking to scale their operations over time.

Scalability is another aspect of data integration that small businesses often underestimate. As businesses grow, so do their data management needs, and not all integration solutions are built to scale efficiently.

How SyncApps Solves Vendor Lock-In and Scalability Challenges

SyncApps offers a flexible and scalable integration solution that helps businesses avoid vendor lock-in. Its platform-agnostic approach allows small businesses to integrate a wide variety of systems, including popular platforms like Salesforce, NetSuite, Shopify, and Mailchimp, without being tied to a single vendor.
Here are a few scenarios:

• You want to terminate your subscription with SyncApps → you still get to keep your data. This doesn’t happen on other iPaaS platforms.
• You want to terminate your subscription to Salesforce → you can still access your data in the SyncApps dashboard.
• You want to switch from Constant Contact to Mailchimp → you will still have access to your data in the SyncApps platform, even if you can no longer log into Constant Contact.

Conclusion: Data Integration Challenges for Small Businesses

For small businesses, data integration is no longer a luxury but a necessity to remain competitive in today’s data-driven world. While the challenges of managing data silos, budget constraints, vendor lock-in, scalability, and proving ROI can seem daunting, solutions like SyncApps make it easier for businesses to overcome these hurdles.

With SyncApps, small businesses can integrate their systems efficiently and affordably, without the need for extensive technical expertise or large budgets. By automating workflows, improving data accuracy, and facilitating real-time decision-making, SyncApps empowers small businesses to unlock the full potential of their data and drive growth.

Whether you’re a small nonprofit looking to integrate your donor management system or an eCommerce business seeking to connect your marketing automation platform with your CRM, SyncApps provides the tools you need to streamline your data integration.

For more than two decades, we’ve been eliminating these top data integration challenges one by one, starting with the cost that used to be prohibitive for small companies.

Don’t take our word for it! Check out what independent reviewers have to say about SyncApps on G2.com.

Like what you see?

Start integrating your mission-critical systems here!

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