ELT Tools
ELT (Extract, Load, Transform) tools are data integration platforms that extract data from various sources, load it into a target data warehouse or data lake, and then perform transformations within the destination system. They are designed for modern cloud data warehouses like Snowflake, BigQuery, or Redshift, leveraging their computational power to handle transformations efficiently. This approach contrasts with traditional ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) by shifting the transformation step to after loading.
Developers should use ELT tools when building data pipelines for analytics, business intelligence, or machine learning in cloud-based environments, as they simplify data ingestion and scale transformations using the warehouse's processing capabilities. They are ideal for handling large volumes of structured and semi-structured data from sources like databases, APIs, and SaaS applications, enabling faster data availability and reducing infrastructure management overhead.