Azure Data Factory orchestrates data movement and transformation at enterprise scale. 100+ built-in connectors extract data from databases, SaaS applications, files, and APIs. Mapping data flows provide visual, code-free transformation. Pipeline activities chain together copy, transformation, and control operations with scheduling, triggers, and monitoring.
Enterprise ADF requires: incremental loading patterns (watermarks, change data capture), error handling (retry policies, failure paths, alerting), parameterized pipelines (reusable templates for multiple data sources), self-hosted integration runtime for on-premises connectivity, and cost optimization (activity-based vs data-flow pricing selection).