Excel? Really? Let's Use #Lowcode to Solve Data Integration Challenges

Leaving aside any political considerations regarding the handling of the UK Covid crisis, this story highlights a fundamental failure of the data integration strategy for a major technology project.

I know little more about this particular issue than has been published in the UK press - but it is a constant frustration to see organisations using the wrong platforms for corporate solutions.

The team at Inoapps has delivered many complex integration projects, and a recurring theme that we see through projects is that "Excel is not an integration platform". Excel is an amazing tool that empowers end users to analyse, manipulate and transform data with limited data management skills. It is not a platform that should be used to facilitate enterprise wide data integration for the following reasons:

• It is not a true multi-user platform
• It very easily hits limits of volume and complexity
• It offers very little control, governance and audit

So, how should an organisation approach data integration to ensure that it doesn’t run into issues? There are of course several powerful enterprise scale ETL tools (Oracle Integration Cloud, Boomi, Biztalk and many others). But if your organisation is looking for a simple, low cost data collaboration platform that will:

• Enable true multiuser collaboration
• Deliver a secure, robust and controlled environment
• Allow data growth beyond an arbitrary limit

then you need look no further than Oracle Application Express.

Excel replacement is one of the most effective use cases for Oracle APEX - new Cloud environments can be deployed in rapid timescales, and offer highly scaleable, fully secured data collaboration platforms. Data can be shared across multiple authorised users, without any limitations on data volumes that may impact on downstream reporting.

No doubt the reality of this particular use case is more complex than it would first appear, but it does represent the importance of choosing the right tools for the right job. The challenges of time and the need for agility can often lead to projects making bad decisions – but in our experience, using Oracle APEX as a platform for this type of requirement is never a bad decision.

If your organisation needs help in meeting urgent project demands, then contact the experts at info@inoapps.com