Data Conversion Services

Data conversion services are contract-based outsourcing services designed to help companies transform data from one format into another.  While data conversion services can be used for very esoteric forms of data conversion - like Microfiche to digital, the majority of data conversion services are applied to the migration of legacy data from one in-house system to another.  An example of this form of data conversion services might be the migration of ERP data from a legacy ERP system to a new one from a different vendor.  Because the two data structures are different, data conversion services might be employed for the migration.

Why Companies Use Data Conversion Services

The key benefit to using data conversion services revolves around a cost/benefit analysis.  Specifically, many businesses feel that data conversion services, despite their high costs, provide greater benefit than having to manage data conversion in-house.  Data conversion services are often associated with large-scale data migration projects where the company in question can justify the hiring of data conversion services under the umbrella of services for a task that the company will not need long-term.  Depending on the type of data conversion services required this can in fact be the less costly option, but often businesses underestimate their own abilities when making such a choice.  As a rule data conversion services are best used when the data conversion required is extremely large and the conversion process will be extremely complicated, where data might need to be heavily manipulated before it is migrated.

Drawbacks of Data Conversion Services

The single biggest drawback of data conversion services is that it is not easily repeatable.  The very nature of data conversion services means that they tend to be "project centric" and become onerously expensive when contracted for multiple projects over protracted periods of time.  Data conversion services then are best used for limited project runs that fit the earlier criteria.

Alternatives to Data Conversion Services

Business have an alternative to data conversion services and that's data integration.  Unlike data conversion services, data integration can performed in-house and can provide a repeatable, easily scalable method of migrating data from one system to another.  Unlike data conversion services, which tend to be very project focused, data integration can be performed on a "as needed" basis - giving businesses the flexibility to migrate only part of their legacy data while leaving larger migrations of non-critical data for later times.  Because of data integration, data conversion services have, over the past few years, begun to specialize in more esoteric forms of data conversion services projects.

Data Conversion Services For Sub-Enterprise Companies

While data conversion services provide a valuable service for large organizations, smaller companies often find that they can't justify the costs associated with data conversion services.  For such organizations a better option might be to identify vendors of data integration software who might be able to contract for the data conversion services.  Because data integration is used in data conversion services, data integration companies often have the necessary expertise to help smaller organizations with their data conversion services needs.