Pressure to include external data in our data warehouses bears on us now from a combination of forces that have arisen in the last few years. First, we want to leverage the wealth of information we have about our customers. Second, much more data has become available: We work more closely with our business partners and third parties, who provide us with data about our products, customers, and markets that we are unable to generate in-house. The third driver is the Internet. The ready availability of data transfer tools for the Internet has lowered the barriers to exchanging data with business partners. But don't think using external data is just another data extract and loading task. In reality, managing external data involves special awareness and procedures that may not be needed within the confines of a single organization.
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