Why Open-Source Data Governance Integrations?

With our recent open-source data governance integration initiative announcement, I wanted to take this opportunity to explain in a little more detail why ALTR decided to go down the path of open-source data governance integrations. One of our principles has always been that because data governance is so critical, it has to be easy and accessible across the data ecosystem. In fact, strong governance and security are a requirement for adding many workloads to the cloud...which has led to the necessity of many of the products in our ecosystem. Other vendors in the space, though, perhaps coming from a more traditional enterprise software mindset, are focusing on their own proprietary marketplaces for connectors or charging for custom integrations to connect various data tools. While this approach may work well for short-term bookings, it doesn’t serve the long-term customer mission to get the most value out of their data.  

Furthermore, that approach just doesn’t align with ALTR’s DNA. We built our SaaS platform to be accessible via the cloud, we removed the need for SQL authoring with our point and click interface, we built an incredibly powerful automation interface on top of that, and we introduced the first and only completely free data access control solution in the market. Doing the status quo just because it is the status quo is antithetical to the founding mission of ALTR.  

As we worked to integrate our solution with data discovery, catalog, and ETL tools, we found opportunities for very simple open-source data governance integrations to be created. Once we built a few of them, we started to identify that open source was an ideal distribution method.  

How open-source integrations help our customers:

• Unbind the buying process: Free, open-source data governance connectors allow customers the flexibility to choose the solutions they want to implement on their own schedule and timeline, rather than having to research, select, and onboard the full stack at once as part of a consolidated purchase process. Customers can move at their own pace, choose the tools they prioritize for their budget, and add data access control and security when ready.  
• Flexible implementation: Open-source integrations enable customers to implement their unique use case and configure the solutions in a way that works for their infrastructure, without custom code or manual implementation, rather than being bound by the limitations of a fixed integration delivered by a partner marketplace. This also allows users with resource constraints to do more with fewer solutions, optimizing their stacks for increased efficiency.  
• Enterprise-level features for free: ALTR’s enterprise-ready integrations work with data catalogs, ETLs (Extract, Transform, Load), and other data ecosystem tools data customers already use. This increases the data access control features available to customers while decreasing the number of tools they’re required to manage.  
• Community development and improvement: We’ve found over the years that almost all our customers look to solve the same problems repeatedly, so like any open-source initiative, we’re enabling end users to contribute their own solutions to the ALTR GitHub library. For example, if a user wanted to send ALTR data classification information into a specific field in a data catalog, they could build that feature and submit that back to the repository for others to benefit from. Because all the customers are solving the same problems, we’ve created an environment where peers across organizations can gain from the experience of others, which makes everyone’s job easier.  

ALTR’s open-source data governance integrations are available through our GitHub open source library.  

With this initiative, ALTR offers non-proprietary connectors to extend the powerful features we provide in the ALTR Free forever plan into leading partner stacks, including Alation and Matillion. These open-source integrations enable seamless data governance, with access control and security spanning from database to data catalog to ELT to cloud data platforms. Complexity is removed by merely plumbing together the already in-market solutions in our ecosystem. Nothing proprietary or complex—just simple and thoughtful connectors which bring ALTR’s value and feature set into the adjacent tools of our ecosystem.

Our end goal is to facilitate interoperability and remove barriers so that customers can build an integrated cloud data stack that allows data to flow freely and securely, and ultimately allows the customer to get more value from more data more quickly and with less resources

See how our open-source data governance integration works with Alation:  

See how our open-source data governance integration works with Matillion:  

Hear Chris and James explain why open source data governance integrations is the best approach:  

Try it yourself now with the ALTR Free plan