Managing your organization’s data catalog is challenging. You need robust data catalog tools to ingest data from multiple sources, monitor data quality, and provide actionable insights.
What data catalog tools and software should your organization use? Read on to discover 12 tools that will help you better manage your data and get the most use out of it.
Quick Takeaways
- Data catalog tools help you more easily organize and access your company’s data
- The top data catalog tools for 2023 include Alation, Alteryx, Ataccama, and Atlan
- Other useful data catalog software includes Collibra, data.world, Erwin, and Google Data Catalog
- Organizations should also consider data catalog tools such as Hygraph, IBM’s Watson Knowledge Catalog, Informatica, and Tableau
Why Do You Need Data Catalog Software?
The main reason that organizations use data catalog software is to help them better manage and utilize their data catalogs to make more informed short- and long-term business decisions. Data catalog tools help organizations:
- Better organize their data
- More easily access their data
- Speed up data access and system performance
- Improve data security
- Reduce data-related costs
All of these benefits combine to help organizations better utilize and trust the data they collect.
12 Top Data Catalog Tools for 2023
What data catalog software should your organization consider in 2023? Here are a dozen of the top tools that can help improve your data collection, access, organization, and security.
Alation
This tool lets you quickly and easily search your data stores and access data no matter where it’s stored in your organization. Users can search with Alation’s intelligent SQL editor or use natural language queries.
Alation works by focusing on metadata across both on-premises and cloud-based storage and uses an artificial intelligence (AI) engine to help your organization better organize and visualize your data. Learn more at www.alation.com.
Alteryx
Alteryx is a robust data analytics automation tool. It uses a combination of data analytics, data science, and data automation to create efficient and effective data workflows.
You can integrate data from up to 80 different sources, including cloud databases, spreadsheets, and more – including both structured and unstructured sources. Thanks to its own SDK, Alteryx can output to a variety of different systems and solutions. More information is available at www.alteryx.com.
Ataccama
Ataccama’s AI-based software enables different types of users to collaborate and share data, queries, and analysis. Data governance is extremely granular, which enables the system to handle large volumes of data from disparate sources. AI technology and sophisticated algorithms automatically assign rules to improve data quality, such as detecting and managing duplicate and related data. Learn more at www.ataccama.com.
Atlan
Atlan differs from some of these other tools in that it’s a data collaborative workspace.
It functions as an online hub for data assets of various types and provides a single source of truth for an organization’s data assets. The tool indexes data by sources and supports different experiences for different types of users. Users can employ natural language queries to locate linked assets. More information is available at www.atlan.com.
Collibra
Collibra is a cloud-based data governance solution designed for enterprises that need to create data standards, policies, and processes to monitor and manage data quality and reliability.
The software provides a single visual representation of data assets from across an organization and helps users see how data from different databases, systems, and applications is connected. Collibra also creates an audit trail for every individual piece of data in an organization. Learn more at www.collibra.com.
data.world
data.world is a cloud-based data catalog solution that includes an enterprise data catalog, metadata management system, and robust data discovery process.
It uses metadata collection tools to collect, analyze, and manage all your organization’s metadata. This enables easily accessible and scalable data and analysis. User queries return virtual data with live connections across multiple datasets. Find out more at data.world.
erwin
The erwin data catalog solution helps organizations gain value from their data both at rest and in motion. It’s a metadata management tool that accelerates data management and analysis to enable faster and more informed business decision-making.
Data mapping is done via a drag-and-drop interface from a centralized metadata repository. The software includes full versioning and data lineage control. See more at www.erwin.com.
Google Data Catalog
Google’s Catalog is a cloud-based metadata management tool within the Google Dataplex. It features robust data discovery, serverless architecture, schematized metadata, data search, and full governance functionality.
It’s easily integrated with other Google Cloud Services and easily scalable as your data needs grow. Combined with Google Cloud and Dataplex, the Cloud Catalog helps organizations monitor and manage data across multiple data lakes and data warehouses. Learn more at cloud.google.com.
Hygraph
Hygraph’s data catalog solution uses a single orchestration layer to create a unified data catalog from multiple data sources. That makes it a useful solution for companies that need omnichannel catalog and inventory management.
It uses a decoupled headless architecture with a single GraphQL API, so it’s easily scalable. See www.hygraph.com for more information.
IBM Watson Knowledge Catalog
This is a metadata repository for enterprises. It can be deployed on the IBM Cloud or on private clouds and easily integrates with other IBM products and services. It includes automated data governance, detailed data lineage, and an end-to-end data catalog.
The Watson Knowledge Catalog can handle structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data from multiple data sources. Learn more at www.ibm.com/cloud/watson-knowledge-catalog.
Informatica
Informatica is an enterprise data catalog platform that provides a single point of access for all data assets. It includes a centralized metadata repository that uses AI-driven automation to catalog data from a variety of sources. Informatica’s architecture is easily scalable, and its metadata intelligence engine provides robust data quality monitoring. See www.informatica.com for more details.
Tableau
Tableau is a data analytics platform that automatically indexes disparate data assets into a single centralized list. Users employ a drag-and-drop interface, no coding required, to create interactive visualizations. Tableau’s data visualization tools help users discover key patterns and insights and make more informed business decisions. Learn more at www.tableau.com.
DataBuck: An Essential Data Quality Tool for Your Data Catalog
When you’re considering data catalog tools for your organization, put First Eigen’s DataBuck at the top of your list. DataBuck is a data quality management solution that uses machine learning to improve the quality of data flowing into your data catalog. DataBuck autonomously evaluates a catalog’s data quality, calculates a data asset trust score, and displays the results in the data catalog. DataBuck works with all major data catalogs, including Alation, IBM Watson Knowledge Catalog, and Informatica.
Contact FirstEigen today to learn more about data catalogs and data quality.
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