What is ETL?
ETL is Extract, Transform, Load. A process for moving data from source systems to a data warehouse.
Definition
ETL stands for Extract, Transform, Load. It's the traditional approach to data integration. First, you extract data from source systems (CRM, ERP, marketing tools). Then you transform it: clean, standardize, and reshape the data. Finally, you load it into a destination like a data warehouse. ETL tools handle the plumbing that connects your operational systems to your analytics infrastructure.
Why It Matters
Without ETL, your data stays siloed in individual tools. Marketing can't see sales data. Finance can't reconcile across systems. ETL pipelines are the backbone of business intelligence. When people talk about 'data infrastructure,' they usually mean ETL plus a warehouse.
Example
Your sales team uses Salesforce, marketing uses HubSpot, and finance uses QuickBooks. An ETL tool extracts data from all three, transforms it into a common format, and loads it into Snowflake where analysts can query across all sources.