Data Aggregation vs Data Integration: What Finance Teams Actually Need

[{"type":"paragraph","content":"Most finance teams use 'data aggregation' and 'data integration' interchangeably. The vendors do not help. The result is six-figure projects that solve the wrong problem."},{"type":"heading","level":2,"content":"What Aggregation Actually Is"},{"type":"paragraph","content":"Aggregation pulls data from multiple sources and summarizes it for a specific question: total spend by vendor, revenue by region, headcount by department. The source systems stay where they are. The output is an answer, not a new dataset."},{"type":"heading","level":2,"content":"What Integration Actually Is"},{"type":"paragraph","content":"Integration unifies data into a single canonical model that downstream systems can query. It is heavier, slower to deliver, and far more powerful when you have multiple consumers."},{"type":"heading","level":2,"content":"How to Choose"},{"type":"paragraph","content":"If your deliverable is a report or a dashboard, you want aggregation. If your deliverable is a dataset that engineering, BI, and AI agents will all query, you want integration. Pretending you do not have to choose is what makes the project run over."}]