Analytics, and Leveraging the Right Kind of AI Data management platforms are the modern evolution of ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) tools. They help analysts extract data from multiple sources, transform it into a usable format, and load it into a centralized location, usually a data warehouse, for analysis and decision-making. While the term ETL is still widely used, today's platforms do far more than just move data.
New data transfer platforms like Launchpad connect to dozens of APIs, automate repetitive workflows, deliver real-time streaming, and integrate directly with visualization and AI tools. They're essential for teams that need accurate, timely, and actionable insights without the bottlenecks of manual downloads.
Why Data Management Matters
Ecommerce businesses generate vast amounts of digital data across siloed systems like website analytics, social platforms, CRMs, chatbots, surveys, and paid media. The challenge is both collecting this data, and also keeping it accurate, accessible, and organized so it can actually drive decisions.
A modern data management platform addresses this challenge by centralizing and standardizing data from multiple sources. It allows you to:
- Combine marketing, sales, and operations data in one place.
- Normalize and clean inconsistent formats and taxonomies.
- Automate repetitive workflows.
- Feed insights directly into dashboards and forecasting tools.
- Consolidate performance reports into a single dashboard.
Unsure when to use an ETL pipeline vs accessing data directly through an API? Read our blog on When to Use ETL Tools vs Direct API Integrations for a detailed breakdown and our experts' recommendations.
The Extract, Transform, Load Process Explained In Three Steps
Step 1: Extract
Pull data from Google Ads, GA4, Facebook, Salesforce, hotel booking engines like Synxis, Shopify, CSV files, Google Docs, and SQL databases. Launchpad includes pre-built connectors to make this easy and fully automated, without any coding needed.
Step 2: Transform
Next, transform the data in your warehouse (BigQuery, Snowflake, Asure, etc.). You can filter, clean, join, or split data fields to meet your analytics needs. Examples include:
- Filtering only high-performing campaigns.
- Replacing inconsistent text values.
- Merging lookup tables with source data.
- Creating calculated fields or derived values.
Step 3: Load
Send your transformed data to destinations such as BigQuery, Snowflake, or Amazon S3. Connect visualization platforms like Power BI or Looker Studio to combine multiple data sources into one interactive dashboard.
What Sets the Launchpad Platform Apart?
Many tools focus solely on data movement. Launchpad goes further with advanced automation, real-time capabilities, AI integration, and built-in visualization tools. It supports both full-refresh and incremental loads depending on your requirements.
Real-Time Data Streaming
Launchpad supports serverless, event-based pipelines to capture leads, form submissions, or chatbot interactions instantly as they happen.
AI Connect: Chat Automation Using Your Data
AI Connect is Calibrate's real-time communication framework that connects Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and website chat tools to your data warehouse and ChatGPT instance, to answer customer chats in real time.
The AI model uses the same data that powers your reporting to deliver high-quality responses to customers, and with ongoing training built in, it continuously learns and improves.
Launchpad Visualization
Launchpad offers built-in visualization tools for creating intelligent, branded dashboards. These report views are fully customizable and ready to share with internal teams or allow clients to login and check reports with custom permissions.
Try Launchpad Free for Two Weeks
Launchpad is our all-in-one platform for data automation, transformation, visualization, and AI integration. From marketing measurement to internal operations and customer conversations, it helps you move faster with data you can trust.
