How AirGarage’s Lean Data Team Built and Scaled Its First Formal Data Stack with Polytomic

AirGarage is a full-stack parking management and technology company. Its platform brings together software, payments, cameras, dynamic pricing, marketing, enforcement, and on-the-ground operations to help parking property owners manage their assets.

This operating model creates a complex data environment. Data is collected from physical infrastructure and field operations, as well as the software systems used by AirGarage’s sales, marketing, finance, product, and engineering teams. Every new system gives the data team another source to connect, centralize, and make useful to the rest of the company

When Justin Ferrara joined AirGarage as its first data hire, the company was just beginning to formalize how it managed data. The initial problem was relatively narrow: move prepared data from Snowflake into Salesforce so the sales team could see the data in the system they already used.

But AirGarage kept growing, and so did the number of systems its data team needed to support. By the time Justin became Data Lead, it was clear that the point solutions built for early use cases would not hold up much longer.

The team could have added another specialized platform every time it needed to support a new source or destination, but that would increase costs and leave a lean team maintaining a growing web of integration tools.

AirGarage needed a simpler foundation. The team needed to move data into Snowflake to keep it centralized, then move prepared data out to the systems where other teams could use it. And it needed to keep doing both as new data sources appeared across the company.

“We knew the number of systems and data sources at AirGarage would keep growing. We needed one foundation we could build on, not a new integration tool for every use case.”

How AirGarage Scaled Its Data Stack With Polytomic

What started as one Snowflake-to-Salesforce workflow has grown into a production data operation. As AirGarage added systems and the data team took on more responsibility, Polytomic supported the team through each stage. Today, Justin’s team uses Polytomic to manage the data moving in and out of Snowflake without having to restructure the stack around each new use case.

Maintaining a Single Source of Truth as Data Sources Multiply

Snowflake can only serve as AirGarage’s single source of truth if the data team can keep up with all the systems the company uses. As AirGarage grows, that means connecting new sources without making every integration a significant engineering project.

AirGarage currently uses Polytomic to replicate data into Snowflake from its production database, sales call recording platform, CRM systems, advertising platforms, and spreadsheets. These sources cover customer conversations, sales and marketing activity, financial and operational processes, and activity within AirGarage’s own application. Polytomic gives Justin’s team a consistent way to bring all of that data into Snowflake, even as the company’s data environment expands.

“As AirGarage grows, new systems keep coming online. Polytomic allows us to keep all the data centralized and up to date, maintaining a source of truth the company can rely on.”

Polytomic also fits the architecture Justin and his team wanted to build. Snowflake could remain at the center of AirGarage’s data operation, while the company kept ownership and control of the data moving through its stack.

Consolidating Data Movement in One Platform

Polytomic eliminated the need for AirGarage to maintain a separate reverse ETL tool. It also gave the team a way to sync with new integrations without adding a specialized platform for every source, destination, or direction.

Instead of splitting inbound and outbound data movement across separate products, the team can manage both through a single platform. This leaves Justin’s team with fewer tools to learn, monitor, troubleshoot, and govern. Whenever AirGarage needs a new integration, the team can easily add it in Polytomic.

“It’s such a relief to be able to add systems without turning every new integration into a major engineering project. That gives the team room to focus on the strategic work that creates more value for the business”

Making Curated Data Available Where Teams Work

Centralizing data in Snowflake is only part of the process. AirGarage also needs to move prepared warehouse data into the systems where other teams work.

AirGarage’s sales call recording workflow shows what this looks like in practice. Sales call data first flows into Snowflake, where Justin’s team can model it alongside data from other sources. Polytomic can then sync the prepared data into Salesforce. This allows AirGarage’s GTM and product teams to use the data in Salesforce without having to go through the data team.

The GTM teams can use the refined sales call data to identify recurring customer questions and improve campaign messaging. For product teams, patterns in the call data can reveal unmet needs, inform potential features, and highlight possible new markets.

A Data Integration Partner for a Growing Stack

For AirGarage, Polytomic’s value comes not only from the platform but also from the team behind it. From day zero, Polytomic has worked with Justin’s team to solve data challenges as they emerge.

AirGarage described onboarding as “very, very easy,” with Polytomic providing detailed guidance during implementation and helping troubleshoot issues. Even after launch, Justin’s team received timely responses instead of having to diagnose issues alone.

As AirGarage evolves, Justin’s team needs a partner willing to help it adapt to new use cases and technology that can be put into production quickly. Polytomic has repeatedly risen to the challenge. For example, when Justin’s team began exploring Datadog to get better visibility into hardware reliability, the Polytomic team was quick to offer a brand new Datadog integration.

“Through every phase of growth, Polytomic has felt less like a vendor and more like an extension of our data team. Whenever a new use case comes up, we know we have a partner who will help us find the best way forward.”

Keeping Pace With AirGarage’s Expanding Needs

As AirGarage continues to grow, its data team will keep building new workflows to support expanding operations and internal business functions. Polytomic has remained part of AirGarage’s stack as the company matured.

AirGarage is still adding systems and bringing more of the physical parking world online, and Polytomic gives its data team a foundation that can keep growing with it.